Turks in Silent Hill
by RenosEMR
Summary: Cross over with Silent Hill, the Turks get stuck there and have to work their way out whilst keeping the President safe. I am hoping you enjoy it to the end. And it's complete! What a mission, and thank you for the support! More stories to come :
1. Chapter 1

The main Turks stood in the office at ShinRa HQ looking a little nervous. Rufus had called them up but he hadn't explained the situation all that well. There was something about underground problems. Not the slums but something else and so they had been called in. Tseng had arrived promptly followed by Rude and Elena. Of course Reno had managed to crawl in a few minutes late looking bleary eyed and only just awake.

"Yo boss!" Reno slid in to a seat nodded to Tseng and Rufus before sliding his seat closer to Elena and giving her a dirty grin. She rolled her eyes and concentrated on Rufus and his latest project.

"To business." Rufus said handing them some information he had been given by the scientists. "There is a strange portal in the lower side of the tube stations. There have been reports of, well we don't know what they are, but strange creatures filtering through. They seem to be attacking at random and the nearby area has been closed off. I would like this matter clearing up quickly."

"Sir." Tseng looked at the photos. There was a large gaping hole in one wall around the underground on the sector five slums and the whole area had been cleared by Soldier. It did not forecast to be a good mission. "The creatures?"

"No pictures and limited intelligence which is why I am asking you." Rufus said and Reno skim read the information and looked up at him wide eyed.

"It says here when the things die they turn to ash. Man that's freaky." His hand idled over the EMR. "Large dogs sounds no worse than some of the crap we get here." He muttered reading over the list and then almost choking himself on the last reports. "Rufus these reports aren't comin' in from like a ton of junkies?"

"I assure you that it is not so." Rufus said his gaze shifting to annoyance at the question. "Are you doubting what I send you to do?"

"No not at all." Reno blurted and Rude just shook his head. "It's just… well it says here that female nurses with no eyes and mouth that moved like zombies were seen. How strange is that?"

"Very." Tseng admitted looking at the same notes. "Well we'll prepare to go down to the slums."

"I'm coming with you." Rufus smiled and patted the gun at his side.

"Sir if it's dangerous…" Tseng started and saw the look on his managers face. "Yes sir."

"One hour." Rufus said and stopped Reno as he tried to head out of the door. "Is there a reason you could not make it on time to a meeting?"

"Well you see I was a little rushed this morning and I couldn't find a clean shirt so," he looked at Rufus who raised an eyebrow, "so I went and got another. That's not quite why I was late but I got stopped on the way up by one of the recruits."

"Reno, that's not the answer." He prompted.

"Cos I was slack ass?" He tried with a grin that lit his face.

"See it doesn't happen again." Rufus warned him. This was of course a pretty much daily routine anyway. Reno went to head out of the door and stopped as he pulled his phone out. There was a strange buzzing noise coming from it. He made a note to arrange a replacement and headed out.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ready?" Rufus asked as the Turks finished checking weapons and standing near the gates downwards. Reno was leaning against a post watching and looking eager to see action. Rude, well, as always it was hard to tell what he thought. Tseng adjusted the katana on his side and motioned Elena and the others down.

At the bottom of Sector Five they headed to where the strange gate had opened. They said it was a portal of some kind. Tseng wandered forwards and looked at it. Whatever it was a cold wind was flowing freely out of it. It looked like a tunnel but there seemed to be no end in sight and it tapered off to darkness.

"Listen." Rude said after a while.

As he pointed it out and the group held their breath it became a little obvious that something strange was afoot. The group heard noises like things in the distance crying and wailing. Elena slowly moved closer to Tseng who was curiously mesmerised by the pitiful noises.

Rufus moved towards the tunnel and Rude nudged Reno to remind him he was supposed to be looking after the President. Reno was so intent on watching the situation too that as Rude nudged him he fell in to Rufus and both of them tumbled in to the black hole.

"Two minutes if they are not back we have to go in." Tseng said moving cautiously towards the hole with the two remaining Turks.

---------------

Meanwhile Rufus had landed on something soft and that something was Reno. Reno groaned as Rufus landed and waited to see if the President would move. Eventually the white clad man got up and dusted himself down. Reno collected himself up from the filthy ground and moved to his hands. The ground was sticky.

"Reno where are we?" Rufus expected him to know every area of the slums and this place seemed to be an extension of that.

"No idea boss." He said looking around. "This is grim." He declared as he wiped his hands down his jacket and then realised what he was wiping off. "Oh Jenova's tits that's blood!"

"Language." Rufus looked at Reno and wondered how blood would bother a Turk but then he realised the extent of that blood. It was wall to wall, ceiling and floor. They regarded each other's surprised expressions. "Where are we?"

"I told you sir. I don't know." Reno said as he looked at rusted iron grates and tentatively picked a booted foot up. It was gross and he wasn't afraid to point it out but he decided he'd probably pissed Rufus off enough already.

------------

"Well it seems they are not coming back. Rude, Elena time to move." Tseng said and dived in to the strange tunnel.

The other two followed ending up in what looked to be some kind of abandoned school. The Turks could see daylight filtering in and looked around. Rude stepped on a large bug and groaned as he lifted his boot. Elena yipped some kind of girlish warning as she realised there were hundreds and for some reason they were all heading their way.

"Move." Tseng barked his order and they headed to the first open room and shut the door. "Where are we?" Tseng asked as he looked at the obviously abandoned room.

"Sir," Elena pointed to the desk and walked over, "it says on here, Silent Hill School."

"Rude where is Silent Hill?" Tseng asked.

"Not from our world Sir." He said and looked at the room. "Looks a bit, crappy."

"Yes well personal feelings aside Reno and Rufus are here somewhere. We best find them." He said.

"Who will kill who first?" Elena smirked and whispered under her breath her comment.


	3. Chapter 3

Reno didn't much like the look of where they were and liked the idea of going forwards even more but Rufus wasn't going to let up easily on him. He followed the Turk cautiously with one hand idled on the gun as he tried to determine where they where. If there was one thing Rufus Shinra hated it was having a lack of information within his reach.

"Sir I will go out of the gates and see where we are." Reno said as he picked the lock and slid through. Again his mobile phone gave out a strange static. Reno cursed as he'd wanted it fixed.

"Do not go out of my sight." Rufus warned him as he tried to avoid getting covered in sticky clogging blood.

"Rufus…" Reno looked up wide-eyed. "I'd stay there a while." He said as he spotted something on the edge of his vision.

One thing that Reno never thought about as he flung the EMR in to his hands was what the things were or whether the electrical jolts would work. A strange creature on two legs with what looked like no eyes screamed at him. It screamed and Reno nearly dropped his weapon it was that disturbing but he ended up launching at the thing and whacking it around the head.

Reno found that aiming at the forehead and bashing repeatedly over it seemed to work. He ended up with it on the floor screaming as he lay into it. The creature didn't want to give up without a fight and in its death throes spat a strange black liquid over the Turks jacket. Reno stood back panting heavily as he looked at it and then saw smoke on his jacket.

"Shit." He cursed and threw the jacket off his shoulders watching as the smoke spread and his jacket was consumed. "Great…" He muttered.

"Reno are you okay?" Rufus said stepping out as they looked at the road they had emerged on.

"Rufus I don't think we're gonna wanna stay around here." He suddenly noticed that the phone stopped hissing when the creature died. "Do you have your phone?"

"Yes of course." He said rifling through his pockets. "Though I had turned it off."

"Yo, it's gonna say no reception but I reckon that whatever these things are they interfere with the phone. Mine goes crazy when this freaked out crap is around us." Reno explained. "Hey look over there it looks like a bar or sommit?"

"Reno now is not the time to get drunk!" He snapped turning his phone on.

"Nah I was thinking there might be someone in there to tell us where we was or," Reno turned and looked to his boss, "maybe a newspaper with the date and shit on it."

"Well that has some merit." He said stepping closer to the Turk and smiling a little. "It's pretty exciting though. I wonder what happened here. The place looks utterly deserted."

"Yeah well I guess if freakazoid monsters were running about like that I might wanna stay indoors. Mind you the apartments have no lights on. Man this place sucks." He said feeling a cool chilling wind wrap around him.

Rufus set off towards the bar on the corner and Reno jogged the few paces to keep up with him. He wondered where the others were. Why hadn't they followed? Rufus' patience was only going to last so long and Reno wasn't really all that eager to be the one it was aimed at.

Reno headed to the bar, it looked abandoned with dusted murky windows and no sign of life. He peered through the glass, strangely a juke box seemed lit up and there was a pool table. Reno went to his trouser pocket and pulled out a lock pick.

"Reno?" Rufus looked around. "Is that really necessary?"

"Hell yes, the drinks in there. I bet I can get some smokes. There should be a clue of where we are too." He pointed out. "Anyways we are great at 'General Affairs' so trust me."

Rufus rolled his eyes and made a mental note to avoid asking too many questions. He then heard the click as Reno managed to unlock the door. It was time to try and find some more information.


	4. Chapter 4

Elena and Rude sat on the large oak desk in the classroom as Tseng wandered along investigating. They would have to move out of the room at some point. Silent Hill? What was that anyway? Elena watched as he paced, trying to think and put himself in to the position of his missing Turk and the president.

"We should head outside and look for a bar." He said.

"Figures." Rude nodded as he pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose and looked around. "Out the window?"

"I think I would prefer it to the hallway." Tseng nodded.

Rude didn't need to be told twice and he moved to the window and punched out with his fist. It connected with the glass and the pane shattered. Rude gave a satisfied grunt before he leant out and checked the area. The sky looked grey and he was sure it was snowing. The curious thing about that fact was that it was not really all that cold.

"Tseng… it's a bit curious outside here." Rude said extending his arm out and bringing it in. Strange little flakes fell on to the dark jacket.

"That I suspect is ash." Elena said her fingers pinching at it. "Yup ash."

"Ash?" Tseng looked out of the window. "It's raining ash? Oh this just gets better."

Rude stepped outside not really all that interested in trying to discover the source of the problem or muse over it but to look for a way to Rufus and Reno. The redheaded Turk was okay in short doses or if you knew him well enough but he could be a bit much if you were having a bad day or if you were short tempered. He headed out in to the open street and looked around.

"It's clear." He shouted to them. "Abandoned looking but clear."

Tseng helped Elena out of the window and she smiled at him grateful for the gentle touch and thought. She headed over to meet with Rude and the three of them looked up and down. There were directions to various streets, a funfair, hospital and historical park with a boat lake. Rude grumbled, none of those were bars. He spotted the gas station and a figure moving around in it.

"Hey!" Tseng spotted the same thing. He moved that way and looked at the gas station. A burnt out old car sat on the forecourt the areas they walked were left with footprints in the ash. "Hey! Excuse me?" He called.

Elena moved behind Tseng with Rude as they approached the garage. The guy turned around and looked at the suited figures. He seemed to be quite concerned by their appearance. Tseng's hand idled over his katana as they moved in.

"Hey!" Tseng ran towards the guy who lifted a shotgun. "We just need you to help us to answer some questions."

"Get out of here!" The guy wavered the gun at them. "You gotta leave or they come after you. If they come after you they'll find me!" His eyes were wide, his voice maniacal. He had ripped and bloodied clothes.

"Who will find you?" Tseng asked.

"Them! They get to you and take you then he… he… oh god." He dived back behind the filthy counter. Tseng raised an eyebrow and looked to the others. "Get out, get out and don't be outside when it gets dark!"

"Why?"

"That's when they come!" He screamed and the shotgun levelled at them. Elena shot out with her pistol and it landed in the man's head. Grey matter mixed with skull fragments and blood splattered across a very faded pin up of a woman in a swimsuit. She put her gun back away.

"It's not proving to be a very good visit." Rude muttered under his breath. He flipped his phone open and tried to call Reno but the reception was non-existent. He moved his shades back up his nose and looked at the sky. "How will we know when it is night time anyway?"

Then the sirens started. The whole town was covered in a noise like an air-raid shelter and a few straggling bodies could be seen in the distance heading out to various areas. Elena ran to one, it turned out to be a teenager. She managed to get enough sense out of him to be told there was a bar around the corner. He told her to run fast and pray hard before he darted down an alleyway.

The Turks moved to the directed bar in the hopes that they would be able to resolve the situation immediately. They hoped to find Reno and Rufus. If they could at least get together as a group they might well be able to get back to their own world.


	5. Chapter 5

Nely's bar had a pool table and the main bar had neon lights that flickered around. Reno opened the door and half light from slatted bar windows gave a dusty and dilapidated feel to it. Rufus considered commenting that all the drinks would have gone off but looking at Reno and his already eager smile he decided not to burst the bubble.

"Let's hope the others can find us?" Rufus said after a long silence of them standing just in the doorway. Reno flipped a light on and Rufus pointed to the pool table. "You been here already?"

"What?" Reno looked over at the table.

In the centre staked by a pool cue was a decaying rotten corpse. It had bloated and looked as though with one touch it would like explode. Reno imagined a shower of green putrescent body fluids covering the already blood stained shirt. He decided not to antagonise the dead body and see if his forecast was true.

Reno stepped around it towards the back of the bar and slid under the counter top and looked around. The whole place was covered in dust. The bar had a rancid smell about it and Reno looked at the fur-covered lemon and lime sat in a small bowl. He nearly wretched as he stood in the husk of something. Thinking it might be a dead rat he soon realised that he was wrong. It was a severed arm.

"Okay this place is hell or something?" Reno asked Rufus holding up the arm.

"I suspect not but it certainly isn't pleasant." He said with a nod. Rufus smiled and spotted the cigarette machine. With the knife from a concealed area on his suit he opened the small lock on the side and threw a packet followed by a couple more to Reno. One bounced off his goggles and the next hit his cheek over one of the red tattoos. "Well we can hardly remain here with a dead guy and severed hand for company."

"Well it's called Nelys Bar and we're in Silent Hill." Reno said reading off a matchbox on the side. "So ever heard of Silent Hill? I bet Hojo has."

"Well Hojo isn't here." Rufus said as they looked out over the night sky. Suddenly and ear blistering siren wailed out across the town. Rufus and Reno looked at one another. It did not sound good at all. The lights that were there suddenly ended and Reno searched around his pockets until he found a pocket light. Rufus did the same.

It was then that they realised they were not the only ones moving around in the bar. The bloated corpse jerked violently and the creature writhed and moaned. The eyelids fluttered around and a gurgle came as it wrenched the pool cue from its gut. They were splattered with blood and Reno moved in front of the ShinRa president.

"Rufus I would strongly advise getting me a whisky." He said as he brought his pistol out in one hand and his EMR in the other. He had materia but somehow felt that it just would not work. He raised the pistol and shot between the eyes. The creature moaned and more blood fell out of it but it continued to shuffled forwards.

Rufus went behind the bar and poured a whisky shot for them both. Damn the dust and danger. He looked at the creature and then to Reno. He lifted his own gun; it was more powerful, and shot. The creature stumbled back a few paces and that gave the Turk a chance to grab the pool cue and wallop the thing around the head. It moaned and slid down to the ground. He whacked it a few more times until it stopped moving and the varnished wood had snapped.

"That takes care of it." Reno said moving to the whisky and wiping his hands down what was left of his shirt. He downed the shot and looked to Rufus who finished his own.

"This is not the kind of thing I was expecting." Rufus said and looked at the bar. "And how in Midgar do we get back?"

"Good question." Reno said shuddering from the whisky and pouring another. "Well there's nothing here of use. Where next?"

"Maybe we should try and hold here for the evening? Those sirens were quite loud." Rufus settled on a barstool. "Then tomorrow look for a police station or something?"

"All right." Reno nodded. He looked out of the window. It was a mistake. All around the city he could see more strangely humanoid creatures stumbling around. They looked perversely adapted and they screeched when they came across each other. Occasionally they would smell something and hoard like flies to the spot.

Reno shuddered and closed the blind. He was a Turk, he wasn't afraid damn it. He didn't like the look of it though he had to admit. These things seemed to have been killed and risen or maybe be beyond killing. Whatever was going on it was unnerving and he couldn't get immediate answers. That and the complete lack of life in the area served to piss him off. He wanted someone he could interrogate and get answers out of!


	6. Chapter 6

"The bar." Rude pointed to a small place. It was called Annie's bar. They were on the other side of the town compared to Rufus and Reno. Rude didn't bother to pick the lock instead he opted to punch the living daylights out of the sturdy back door.

"Well we shall hold up here then." Tseng told them and opened the door. The back of the pub had boxes stored up that at some point had been ransacked. He poked one with a gloved hand and it fell apart. Bottle tops fell on the floor and Tseng mumbled something. "We have got to find President ShinRa."

They moved in to the bar which unlike the other had a reasonable outlook to it. The lights were working and the jukebox seemed to have been left ready to put money in. Gil it was rapidly realised by Elena was not the currency. She picked up a coin and looked at it. She then pocketed as many as she could get from the till just in case. They searched the area and then settled down after pulling out some cold beers from the fridge.

"Okay plan of action is we start again first thing in the morning." Tseng said uncomfortable with the fact that their list of plans had to be written on the back of a torn apart beer mat.

"Well if we each take turns in a watch then we can rest and try and sleep." Elena suggested.

"I'm good for that." Rude nodded. "I'll take first watch." He said adjusting his gloves and pushing his shades up on to his head.

He sat patiently for a majority of the night. He was quite concerned about his partner if he was honest. They usually took the assignments together. Reno could get a little out of hand with his eagerness to bash something in if the bigger Turk wasn't there to let him rant it out. Then again Reno was the second in command for a reason. He was good at what he did.

He woke Tseng next as Elena looked to be quite peaceful on the floor and it seemed a shame to move her. Tseng muttered something under his breath and then knelt down and kept the sword close enough to grab in a hurry.

There was a strange noise at the back of the stores and Tseng quietly stepped up and took his sword with him. There was something aiming to get in the back door. He leant and listened. It sounded like the sniffing of a large dog; his mind went to Dark Nation. Dark Nation, the companion of Rufus' for some time until Cloud had got his hands on them.

He opened the door and a large dog greeted him. It stank and as he tried to close the door with unnatural strength it fought back and slipped in through the door. Tseng looked at it shocked for a moment.

Flesh was falling from it sides and matted fur with rotten innards clung to what was left of it. How it was still walking he did not know. The tongue hung low to the floor and was extraordinarily long. Putrescent breath came from it and he was quite sure the thing was blind. It seemed to smell him through and started to pad towards him.

Tseng did not take a chance to let it too close. He brought the sword down across its neck and severed it from the dogs' body. The head rolled into a stack of empty boxes. The body fell against the metal shelving case. He looked panicked for a moment before flicking the blood from the sword and replacing it at his side.

The other two Turks followed in to the room hearing the noise. It was a frightening thought that the thing had been alive and could smell like it was decaying as it walked. The blood pooled around both halves and Tseng picked up a quick shot of rum and set it back down.

"We are not going to get out of here very easily are we?" Elena asked. "I like this place even less than I like the Slums."


	7. Chapter 7

The following morning with less events to cloud their mind Rufus and Reno opened the bar door and stepped out in to the street. The damned place was still raining ash and there were no signs of the abominable creatures that had littered the streets like slugs after a good rain fall.

"I think we can move on Reno." Rufus said attaching his materia band to his arm and securing his gun. "We have to assume it is just us."

"I wish Tseng were here. Something about the swords kinda comforting." Reno admitted swinging the EMR over his shoulder and leading the way on.

They had made the decision to head over to the hospital to try and find out more. They had been unable to find the locations for a police station in the A-Z but then again half the pages were unreadable and neither men ventured to question what the substance was.

"So Rufus," Reno drawled as they wandered along, "if we are like the only survivors here and we come across the last living pretty woman…"

"You can happily help yourself." Rufus nodded. "She's gonna be mad most likely. Wouldn't you go mad here?"

"Damn it." Reno grumbled. Why did his boss have to be such a smart arse? He headed around the corner and they could see a signpost to the school, a large park, a museum and a hotel. Reno followed the sign mentally noting a church that seemed to be out in the distance too.

They moved on. Reno wondered about the church briefly. He'd never had cause to go all religious. Hell, that was his destination and the less time he thought about it the better. He signed in to the Turks and they'd sign him out. He swung the EMR around his wrist and sighed. Well that was a downer on an altogether downer trip anyway.

"I can't help but notice for the first time in what seems like forever you are not really making comments or talking inanely at me." Rufus said with a grin.

"Sorry boss." He muttered. "Just planning things in my head. I mean if we carry on going on the wild tour of Silent 'Freaky-ass creature' Hill surely we can expect to get some idea of how to get home?"

"Profoundly useful." Rufus said grimly. "Perhaps our scientists are working on it. We can but hope."

They followed the directions and ended up outside the hospital. It didn't need to be said the place looked abandoned too. Reno figured that maybe they should look for a newspaper or some clue as to what the hell was going on? Maybe everyone suffered from some kind of plague?

The hospital doors weren't locked at all and though it looked filthy and dilapidated they were able to make out directions to the reception and surgery areas. Reno jumped over the desk, a set of files lay on the top and he looked over them. He idled over a couple of them and Rufus made a loud coughing sound, Reno turned and spilt a load of the files on the floor.

"Reno!" Rufus pointed at the file and a photograph that lay on the top of it. "That's Rude!"

Reno leant down and picked up the file and flipped through the notes. It certainly looked rather strangely like Rude but as a child. He looked about ten or twelve but he certainly fit the Turks description well enough to have made it a likely match.

"Dude he's from like Midgar." Reno said reading the file. "This kid was called Alex and states he came in here after a big ass fire."

"So…" Rufus took the picture. "It looks like him don't you think?"

"I think this one looks like Elena too." He said holding up another one. "Seriously look." He held the photo closer and Rufus grabbed it. "Jenova's head that's scary."

"Less of the profanities." Rufus said looked at her. Certainly he could not escape that they looked rather similar.


	8. Chapter 8

It seemed like forever until the next day. The three Turks gathered themselves together. Tseng stretched his aching muscles and then looked out of the window. It was just about light outside. Not that a great deal could be said for the matter.

"How hungry am I?" Elena muttered.

"Eat the dead dog then." Rude said with a dead-pan straight face.

"Gross!" She screwed up her nose and then punched him in the arm. He didn't say anything but she saw his jaw tighten and knew she had hurt him at least.

"Both of you stop it." Tseng cut the frivolity short. "Let's see what else we can find in this place." He opened the back door and ignoring the dog he stepped out. "We can head over to the library and see if there is anything listed in the historical sections."

The two Turks nodded and headed out with him. Again the strange ash fell around them. Rude murmured his annoyance at it but he was also concerned for his partner and the president of ShinRa. The last thing any of them wanted was to be stuck in this god's forsaken town.

They moved across the town making a mental map of the places they were passing. They passed a school and a couple of other older looking buildings. Finally they found the library and it was boarded and closed up.

"Well this was a place they didn't want anyone getting in." Elena said looking at the heavy wooden barricades.

Rude snorted. Master of obvious statements or giving away details, which would be his title for Elena. She just had to speak even when it didn't seem necessary. He took a look at the boards and peered in. He wished he hadn't as he saw something he was struggling to explain in words.

"Tseng." Rude said turning around. "Is it absolutely necessary to go in to the library?"

"I would think that we are looking for information and libraries happen to have such a thing." He said patiently. "What is wrong?"

"Well you see, you know that Hojo likes to experiment and has made some pretty odd things in the past…"

"Yes." He said impatiently.

"I think he might have met his match." He said stepping aside to let Tseng take a look too.

Tseng looked in through the window. The library shelves were stacked high and in places the books were missing in large sections but this was not the cause of the intrigue. The centre where tables had once been laid out to allow quiet study had been pushed together. On top were four cages, which held decaying bodies inside them. Some had more than one arm or leg and all had permanently fixed expressions of horror of them.

Tseng sighed deeply, whatever this place was it was warped. He looked around at the two Turks and shrugged. He wasn't going to invite more trouble but he certainly wanted to get out of the town as soon as he could.

They pushed open the doors and found that the corpses did not react. Rude wondered if they were getting overly paranoid as he picked up a book. It was a bible for a religion of some sort. He passed it to Elena who ventured to read out a few passages. It seemed to centre on sin, about the fact that murder and other crimes would have to be paid for in hell.

"Cheerful subject." She said as she flipped through it.

"Wonderful. Post mark it to Sephiroth but can we please get a move on?" Tseng said. Finally after some searching he felt satisfied that he had found a map of the town. He put it in his pocket and then found a small silver dagger. "That looks important but I have no idea why."

"Perhaps it has something to do with that?" Rude pointed to a large oil painting on the wall. The dagger was being plunged through a chest. "And look at…"

"Reno!" Elena shouted as she looked at the person on the painting. "Reno and… is that you Rude?" She pointed to someone in the background who had been shot and was lying over what looked like a park bench.

"This is weird." Tseng admitted.

The painting had what looked to be like the redheaded Turk being killed and the person plunging in the dagger looked similar to Elena. There were the others in the background and they had all been killed in one way or another.

"But how did this happen?" Elena said her voice wavering.

"I think a better question would be when." Rude pointed out.


	9. Chapter 9

"The file says that the patients we're looking at were in ward four at the back. Seems that is some kind of mental health ward." Reno smirked. "Didn't need to be told our mental faculties were in question. We're Turks." He laughed.

"Reno." Rufus warned him in a low growl. "Where is Ward Four?"

Reno looked at the map and made a mental note of where he was going. They travelled along the dark corridors and took out torches. It was curious that outside was supposed to be daylight but there were no signs of it in the halls with their boarded up or filthy windows.

Reno took to scraping the EMR along the wall but one swift jab in the ribs from Rufus soon stopped it. They moved through what looked to be an old reception for Ward One and the two of them stood and looked at the mess. There were body parts strewn across the floor, not that either of them were in the dark about seeing that before, but they looked to have been ripped apart by hands. There was a large and bloody trail down the middle of the corridor where something, or things, had been dragged.

The whole place looked like a water bomb filled with blood had exploded!

"What the hell is this place?" Reno sighed and kicked something by his boot. The stumped arm flopped with a horrid splat in to the wall. Reno looked around and then back to Rufus who had a similar expression.

"Looks like we might be in more trouble than I could have imagined." Rufus said and then a broad grin broke out. "Excellent."

"Excellent? Are you off your rocker?" Reno looked at him. "Seriously we don't even know where the fuck we are!"

"All the better. When we do we shall be ready." Rufus said the same sick smile on his face as the day he faced Kadaj and his brothers. "Let's see what clues we have here."

Reno rolled his eyes; this was going to end up in a mess regardless. If Rufus wanted to investigate and make some big adventure out of it he was going to end up in pain. The President would most likely end up okay as usual. Like the whole thing with Vincent and Deep Ground. He mumbled about that too. He was left running about the office with Tseng and they had nothing to do with the fieldwork as Rufus sat in the hospital.

They moved towards the Ward. There was no collected ward area with beds just rooms that appeared more like cells. Reno looked at the plaques outside it and wondered why the medieval system was still there. He wondered then how long since the place had been abandoned. It was a silencing though even for the cocky redhead.

"Here." Rufus looked at the door to the room, which had Alex named on it. He looked through a little glass panel. There in the room on the bed was a set of rank clothes, some shoes near a bucket and a strange iron mask that looked to have covered the entire face when worn. "They kept kids here?" He looked amazed.

"Sounds even more charming than the prospect of dinner and evening relaxation with Hojo." The Turk muttered and went to open the door. He found it locked. He tried to pick the lock but ended up kicking the door in frustration. "What the hell is this an asylum?"

Rufus looked at the lock and guessed it was quite rusted and would not put up a great deal of protest. He pushed Reno aside and shot at it. A bullet rebounded from the lock entrance and Reno had to duck to avoid a shot to his forehead.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He snapped.

"No if I was you'd be dead." Rufus said and tested the door. It opened on its own. He nodded, satisfied.


	10. Chapter 10

Elena walked out with the other two and in to what looked like a storage area in the library. She wondered if she really was destined to fight with Reno or had they stepped in to some parallel dimension where it had already happened. Either way she felt incredibly bad about the idea of it. Cocky as Reno was she rather liked him.

Rude opened the door and got ready to look around the next area. The library seemed to be constructed alongside a large mansion and Tseng took the point as they moved in to a hallway. The area was cold and full of more discarded furniture and rubbish.

"I feel like making a Reno comment here." Rude pointed out and smirked. "Where's the porn section?"

Elena laughed as they moved on in to the mansion and Rude carried on. He was hoping that they were going to find the others and pretty soon. The Turks worked best when they were the ones in charge. Somehow it seemed like the town itself was in charge.

Elena opened the doors to the downstairs living area. The musty furniture had signs of once glorious material but now they were faded and worn. Dusts and cobwebs covered the room. The Turks moved in and Tseng watched cautiously for signs of movement.

They came in to a large drawing room with a centre table. In there was a book that had been left for guests to sign. Tseng flipped through the pages and spotted the last entry had been made apparently some twenty years before the last date he had seen anywhere else holding records.

"This place is really quiet strange." He mused aloud. "I do wonder why everyone has abandoned the town. Well what looks to be anyone sane might have." He looked at the names. He didn't recognise any of them. He marked that as a good thing.

They searched the bottom floor and found the large expansive kitchen. Curiously in the fridge they found several cans of diet coke that looked as though they had been recently placed there. Rude opened one and checking the date he tentatively drank. It was cold and fresh. He downed the can and threw the tin at Elena.

Elena squealed and threw it back at him but Rude ducked. The can struck the wall and Tseng looked over at them both for a moment before noticing that the entire kitchen seemed to be the only clean place they had stumbled upon so far. Elena and Tseng took up drinks and Tseng ran the water from the taps. Whatever the place was he was sure that the clean area marked something important.

"Are we going to stay here or move on boss?" Rude asked after a lengthy silence and investigation of the kitchen. Rude flipped the cleaver around his wrist a few times with a smirk and kept it to hand. It seemed rather well weighted and might provide use in a fight.

"I think we should move on." He said looking out of the large windows. "Though where we are to look next I would have no idea."

"Well Reno and bars are usual but to be honest," Elena stopped as she opened the next set of doors. "it… we…" she suddenly came to a stop.

Tseng moved behind her. He looked at the large expansive drop down through her feet. He stepped back pulling her with him. Underneath it looked like a complex dungeon. Below creatures that might once have been human writhed in caged devices. Torso's without heads moved and surged against restraints they could not best and featureless faces screamed out begging for attention.

"We are not going there are we?" Elena said as Tseng peered over seemingly quiet interested.

"I wonder what it is." He muttered.

"No, we have to find Rufus!" Elena argued. "I mean Sir, our objective…"

"No you are right." He said sounding almost disappointed. Then he spotted a familiar looking bloodied blue jacket hanging in a cage. "But it seems there are further clues down there." He pointed.


	11. Chapter 11

"Yo boss really should we go poking around?" Reno said with a moment of clarity as he popped some chewing gum in his mouth and looked at the room. It was too late however as Rufus stepped in and the cell door closed. The mobile phones they had began to squeal loudly.

"Very funny now open it." Rufus said pushing and pulling on the door. Reno looked at the door, which had no lock and tried to shoulder barge it but it would not budge. "Reno…"

"I fucking swear man I ain't doing a thing." He said from the other side. Reno heard a strange thud behind him and turned around. "So gotta run. Be back soon." He said and ran.

"Reno!" Rufus snapped but he couldn't get out or see the Turk.

Reno wouldn't have considered himself a coward but he was running. He was running for a bloody good reason too if you asked him! He had spotted the towering beast of a creature coming from the other end of the corridor.

The creature coming up behind him was easily over nine feet tall and he was hardly the tallest of men anyway. It had some kind of metal pyramid over its head that looked like a basket or mask and it rounded the corner in a leather butchers apron with bulging muscles over the naked torso. The thing lumbered along with what looked to be either the hugest sword on the face of the planet or hugest meat cleaver.

Either way the redhead had absolutely no intention of ending up stuck within reach of it. He tore down the corridor and into another one where he flipped on top of what looked like heating pipes and watched as it rounded the corner and carried on towards him. He wondered if he had been spotted but his question was answered moments later when the sword swung towards him.

"Shit." He mumbled as he narrowly missed it. The Turk's jacket was ripped and his top was caught in the same place as Cloud's some years before. He already had a nice scar down there. He was not impressed with getting another cut across it. The blood started to drip down and he launched clear of another wide swing before spotting and open grate and spider climbing through it.

He was now stuck in the shaft but the creature gave up trying to get to him as another figure rounded the corner. The thing looked mutilated and only the size of a child. Reno looked at the thing in mild disdain before the Pyramid Head thing grabbed it in one arm and lifted it clean off the ground. It prodded what he thought was its ass and then dragged it down the corridor.

The Turk let out a small sigh of relief before discarding his totally ruined shirt and jacket and then sliding down with the EMR in hand and making his way to Rufus in the cell. He rounded the corner and heard gunshots.

"Damn it why does he have to be so trigger-fucking-happy." He mumbled. "Fucking shoot this, shoot that…" He moaned and put his hand over the bleeding wound. "No fucking materia and…" He stopped as he saw blood pooling around the bottom of the cell door. The dark liquid was more of a clotted colour than fresh. "Rufus!"

"Reno I'm okay." He shouted back. "But I really need you to get me out of here." He added. This cell, things keep crawling through the walls!!

"Sir…" He looked around. There was an office at the end. He burst open the door with one decent kick and started to look for something that might help him to get the President free. He finally found a box with various levels. "Oh for fucks sake! This is more complicated than an orgy to get around." He kicked the terminal.

Sparks flew out and Reno smacked his head across the desk. Where the fuck was Rude? He was the electronics whiz. He didn't give a shit about this stuff, he couldn't beat it or order it around, couldn't drink it… couldn't blame some dozy fucker beneath him. Bollocks. He picked up the terminal and pushed a button, he heard something open. Okay so he just had to work out the pattern.

"What the hell are you doing out there?" Rufus shouted as he fired another shot at the strange black shape that was trying to surface. "Reno!"

"Sir!" He pushed a few others. He figured out that in order to get their floor and Rufus door it was a combination of two buttons. He finally got it right and pushing the buttons there was a thud. "Sir! Try it now!" He shouted coming out of the office.

Rufus took one last shot and pulled on the door. It moved and opened a few inches. The blasted thing was stuck. Reno came flying over and Rufus just spotted him and moved aside as he flying-kicked the door and flipped back over. Rufus looked at the half naked Turk and then his own bloodied suit.

"I'm fast loosing patience here." Rufus commented coolly and put the gun down. The screeching that had been occurring all the way through came to a sudden abrupt halt and both of them realised that the place had gained back its eerie silence.


	12. Chapter 12

Elena looked over the side as Tseng motioned them over. The edges of the collapsed flooring expanded out but there were some ladders and beams that they could pick their way down by and Rude went first wondering why his partner's jacket was there.

They found the jacket to have been ripped apart and bloodied. Elena picked it off the side. She sighed and held it tightly. The air was warm and oppressive. They seemed to be stood on some kind of old platform that looked rusted and tender under the foot. It reminded him of tired old buildings around Midgar just after Sephiroth had hit the first time.

The area was one resounding moan of pain or pleasure and none of them dared to voice the way it sounded. Like a constant hum of tortured beings mixed with semi-climatic states that rounded in to pulsing moans here and there. Arms, legs and torso's animated from cages as they walked past.

Tseng was grabbed by what appeared to be a child as they walked. Tiny hands came from behind a cage and gripped at his jacket and Elena whacked it with her fist breaking the hold. Tseng nodded his thanks and drew his sword as they moved on.

Elena checked Reno's jacket pockets. It was definitely his coat as she found some kind of lubricant, condoms, cigarettes, lights, pocket knife… cash? He had gil? He never seemed to have any when he got her to go to the vending… machine… the grumble escaped her lips. The cheap bastard.

"Problem?" Tseng asked her.

"Nothing sir." She sighed as they moved on. They came to a large iron door. "Well I guess we can try out through here? Sir this jacket is covered in blood. I think he must be hurt."

"Well then the sooner we find him and Reno the better. Knowing my luck one or the other will end up trying to commit murder."

"More likely Reno'll try and get his end away with something." Rude muttered.

"That something being the President if he thinks he'll get a pay rise." Tseng grumbled. Elena was about to ask if sucking dick was how you got promoted but one glance from Tseng and she soon decided against it. Rude suppressed a grin. The dirty redhead would do most anything to please his boss anyway because he loved his job but he found the idea amusing none the less.

The large iron door was locked but Rude shoulder barged it down and arrived the other side. Tseng followed him and Elena took a check behind them before they walked in to the next area. It looked like they had found an exit to the street. Ash was raining down and several black crows hissed at them before taking flight. Opposite them large gates had fallen open, one swinging on its rusted hinges in the wind.

"Check the front." Tseng ordered and Elena wandered over and looked through the gates. "There is a small boat that seems to lead to that strange boathouse on the Island Lake. There is a dirt road leading in to a forest. Either way it looks like more crap."

"No sign of blood trails either way?" Tseng asked coming up to meet her. Rude kept checking as they went.

"No sir…" She looked at the boat. "That's only good for two."

"Then woods it is." Tseng said and got a light from his pocket. "I've seen less cheesy horrors than this entire town."

"You obviously haven't been to Reno's for a 'lad's' night." Rude mumbled and followed him pulling a light of his own and keeping hold of the cleaver.

"Sounds like I am the one that got the better deal." Tseng smiled turning to check on the other two. He suddenly realised that Elena was not with them. "Elena! Elena!"

There was a silence and Rude looked at Tseng. Then the sirens started again…


	13. Chapter 13

The President of ShinRa could not have been more pissed off if he tried. He stormed out of the complex towards the open forecourt. Reno came behind him having made a make-shift field kit from the nurses' supplies. He added a few other 'essentials' of his own before running in to the back of Rufus and nearly falling down.

"What's wrong boss?" He asked wiping the ash from his goggles. It struck him as kind of creepy that he was shirtless and wasn't cold despite the gloomy atmosphere.

"It's getting dark Reno. We need to get back in the damned hospital." He grumbled and looked around. "There we'll go to the other end. I am not risking those bloody creatures."

"Sir." Reno handed him the box of supplies and then headed to break in. He popped the lock and slipped through to what appeared to be baths and showers. "Looks okay Sir."

"Good. Try and find a doctor's shirt or something. You look a mess." He said ignoring the blood but seeing the gaping wound Reno had badly stitched on the fly.

They made their way down the large expansive corridors and past turned over rusted beds, rotten mattresses and discarded medical equipment. They heard the sirens go and both of them stopped moving for a moment. Reno looked around and then to Rufus. The sirens were the sign that shit was going to start.

"Where are the sirens coming from?"

"Boss I dunno but seriously we…" Reno spotted a nurses hat in the darkness clearly attached to a head as it bobbed away in to the recesses of the corridor. "Shall I ask her?"

Rufus rolled his eyes expecting Reno thinking that is was likely to be about the woman not the truth of the matter. Reno skipped ahead and Rufus followed the ponytail as it rounded the corner. The Turk was met face to not-face with something that made his stomach roll.

He had tapped her on the shoulder and she turned round. She had looked a promising curvaceous blond from behind! Upon turning however there were no eyes, no mouth and various skin grafts had been pulled across her features. Her mouth was open but had also been fixed from any use by some sort of bizarre and painful looking cage.

"Jenova's tits!" Reno looked at her amazed. How was it, no wait she, walking? Reno's shock left him standing there for a while. Sure Midgar, Wutai all of them had some pretty messed up things once in a while but this thing… she looked just… "Gross." He voiced.

Rufus spotted the scalpel in the nurses' hand and pulled up his gun. One square shot to her temple and she fell down. Reno let out a surprising scream and fell over her. Rufus went to drag him off the nurse but realised that the reason his panicking had been so extreme was the person he had just shot.

Elena, or what looked like Elena, had been shot head first by the Presidents gun. Reno looked to Rufus and shuddered as he picked himself up. He turned to the President and glared at him angrily.

"This is why I tell you to let me sort this shit out!" He erupted. "What fucking point is there in hiring us if you wanna fucking do everything. You've just killed one of your fucking own!" He yelled.

"Don't you speak to me like that or I'll shoot you too." Rufus said calmly. Reno opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again.

"Rufus she's… Elena…" He pointed to the brain-splattered corpse on the floor. He kicked the wall beside him and it connected with the plasterboard. His foot caused a dent and blood started to flow out crawling up the walls like the patterns shattered glass would make.

Rufus didn't say anything but he looked down at the blond haired nurse. Something wasn't right. He took her scalpel and removed some of the strange grafting. He found maggots under the layers of flesh and a horrid, acrid smell of rotting flesh.

"Okay if that is Elena either we never noticed her personal hygiene issues or it's some kind of clone." Rufus said to Reno who had watched his boss cut open the face of what he still thought was one of the Turks.

"Okay." Reno said blankly. He must be going crazy that was it. This was a dream and when he woke up he'd realise that he'd been on one hell of a bender, maybe his drink was spiked. That was it… spiked drink! "If I'm late for work tomorrow I am sorry."

Rufus looked at him quizzically. He shook his head and searched the woman's pockets. She had her name sewn on to her pocket. Eleanor… close but not quite right so he showed the redhead and Reno breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Can I book a vacation when we get back?" He smirked.


	14. Chapter 14

"Elena!" Tseng shouted and Rude looked at his boss and shook his head. The shouting would no doubt encourage more things to come out from the dark. "Well where the fuck did she go?" He asked Rude agitated.

"Sir we really should consider moving on now." He sighed. "Do you want to go across on the lake or do we continue through the woods?"

"Lake." He muttered and stalked back. He found Reno's coat on the side strung in a tree. He didn't know why he did it but he passed what was left of it over to Rude. The spare torch might be of use if nothing else.

The boat didn't look too sturdy and they made a search of the area in case Elena had wandered off but there were no signs at all of her or any struggle. They moved to the boat and Rude mumbled. The oars were small and there was no clear pathway over to the other side. There was however a small light so he had to go with that.

"We have no idea where we are going so this could just make things worse." Tseng voiced both Turk's thoughts. "I can't just sit around though."

"Sir why not go back in to Silent Hill?" Rude asked and removed his shades, he had no idea what they were doing but the dark areas made it harder to see. "Then again we have no idea where the President went." He pulled up the oars.

They began to row over and Tseng kept his sword to hand as they made slow progress towards the one small light across the boating lake. The ash fell around them and Tseng wondered why they had been brought to this place. He had never heard of Silent Hill which he had mentally rename Silent Hell. He was sick of the constant fear and lack of people to speak with or to interrogate. He needed information and the other side might have more to offer.

They alighted to find themselves outside a small building advertised as a summerhouse. Tseng wondered if summer had ever come to the town. The building doors had been smashed in long before their arrival and they stepped in to it to find that apart from the mess outside the inside just looked relatively untouched.

"Don't come any fucking closer or I blow your head off." Came the growling threat from behind what looked to be a mini-bar.

"Would you please tell me who the hell you are?" Tseng ordered and the guy poked his head up. It looked like a young member of Soldier but he couldn't be sure.

"Tseng?" He stood up and relaxed a little. "Holy shit where are we? This place… it's fucked up."

"We're in Silent Hill and how did you get here?" He asked him not sure what to say apart from that.

"I've found this diary about some people and the town but it's a bit of a mess. I woke up here Sir but I was… was in the Train Graveyard." He added and threw the diary over. "It talks about the whole town being on fire underneath and that's where the ash is coming from. It says about people running scared for their lives from monsters. There was just so much that could go wrong and people evacuated."

"This information… it's good." Tseng complimented opening the book. "The town is on fire still? How long ago did this happen?"

"I can't be sure but I think about twenty years ago at least." He said as Rude checked the area and they sat down.

"Have you seen a female Turk dressed in a blue uniform?" Tseng said as he flipped through the book.

"No sorry." He said and they settled up for the night to keep guard as Tseng worked at looking for more clues. The Midwich Elementary School, the hospital and various places were mentioned as hotspots. None of them however explained how the hell the Turks were involved and why the hole had opened up in the middle of their world.

Elena stumbled to her feet and looked around. She had blacked out and she had suddenly appeared in the streets of Silent Hill. Strangely it was raining but not ash. She looked around to see that the place was still abandoned however and there were no signs of life.

"Oh for Shiva's sake." She picked herself up and looked around. Her phone rang and she answered it a little nervously.

"Elena?" It was Head Office. She grasped the phone.

"Oh god you have to get us out of here." She sighed so glad to hear another voice. "We're in some place, Silent Hill… it's a mess here and…" the phone began to break up, "we need to get out please!"

"We'll see what we can do." The phone clicked off and she stood in the street with rain pouring down. She was alone, it was worse than being scared with the others. At least she had someone to watch her back.

"Reno! Anyone! Please…" She sobbed. She didn't spot the figure coming up behind her. She didn't notice the sound of the footsteps and by then it was simply too late to do anything anyway.


	15. Chapter 15

Reno was still fuming but he had to listen to the idea that things were really not as they seemed. He sighed and took point as they walked through the halls again. The hospital was a foul place and even by his standards needed some cleaning up and he'd seen some shit-holes in his life.

"Reno we need more ideas." Rufus said as they moved along. "This blind wandering is not serving any purpose is it?" He found a room that looked relatively undamaged and they stepped inside. "Let's tidy you up at least." He said more softly.

"Boss seriously I am not liking this one bit." Reno said sliding on to a couch. "I haven't got my end away in days, there's a lack of beer and I'm getting closer to naked for no good reason."

Rufus snorted and rolled his eyes as he looked around. He found enough with the medical kit Reno had made up and the supplies in the room to get Reno sorted out. He sat Reno up and looked at the gash mark. He took off his gloves and ran his hands over the scars. He took the needle up.

"Um with no painkillers or materia?" He looked at Rufus. "No spirits?"

"We haven't got much at the moment to hand." Rufus said. "Reno it's going to cause more problems if it gets infected."

"Suck my dick you are doing that!" Reno sat up more trembling.

"I've seen the fights you got in to lately; sucking your dick is not going to happen." He said and pushed him back and dug the needle in. Reno swore several times and threatened horrible things to anyone listening. The Turk could stand a lot but he was tired and in need of sleep and it didn't look to be happening.

"Son of a bitch!" He yelled out as Rufus tugged the last stitch and snipped the rest of the gut free. "Shit that hurts." Reno moaned and passed out.

"Damn it." Rufus cursed watching the Turk give up the last of his strength. "I had no objections to you sucking me." He smirked and covered up the redhead with the intention of finding him a shirt. He packed up the gun and torch and looked around outside before he ducked to the supply cupboard down at the end of the hallway.

The hallway seemed a lot larger when he was on his own. There were dark patches on the walls like something had been run across the middle bleeding and the coppery smell of dried blood filled his nose. He opened the storage cupboard, there were various clothes there and he managed to grab a shirt and some trousers for them both. He was not going to walk around in the current mess he had made of his clothes.

Carrying the supplies of use Rufus headed back towards the room he had left the Turk in and opened the door. Another female nurse was caressing Reno. He was passed out still and the nurse with dark black hair was pulling on the roughly sewn stitches. Her hand caressed old scars and ran across him like he was enthralling her, which he was. Her mouth opened wide and she was about to bite in to his shoulder when she spotted Rufus to the side of her.

"Don't do it." He said calmly. The nurse backed off to the office door. "Don't touch."

She hissed at him, an animal who had found easy prey and been disturbed. He noted the vacant look in her eyes and the twitching movements. She started to move forwards and Rufus for some reason let her. The gun and clothes slipped to one side on the bed and he watched as she stumbled forwards, her legs carrying a torso, which seemed to move at a different speed. The legs stumbled forwards and the body swiftly jerked as if willing it's mindless inhabitant forwards.

Rufus looked at it amazed and then, suddenly, there was a ringing sound in his ear and a bright light. Rufus turned around to see the redheaded Turk holding his gun and panting breathlessly from the energy of having to fire it. The nurse stumbled back and another shot rang out. Reno collapsed back on the bed and the nurse fell obliterated back out in to the corridor.

"Thank you Reno." Rufus said as he moved back to check on him.

"Suppose a fucks out of the question if you won't give me head." He laughed and held his wound. "Ouch."

"Shut up and rest. We're moving in the morning." Rufus laughed a little more relaxed.


	16. Chapter 16

Rude had taken the watch for most of the night and then the Soldier, who they found out was called Zekiel, took the rest of the watch. The only way they could tell it was day was the fact that the pitch black turned to a whitish grey.

The boat lake was still pretty clouded and Tseng now wondered what to do as there were three of them. It would mean that they had to walk right around it through the forest. Still, he mused, better to do that by day.

"Sir." Zekiel gave out what was left of the rations in his bag. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"Yes please." Tseng nodded. "We're walking via the forest and we are going to head to see if we can find Elena."

The three headed outside, the boat had been vandalised forcing them to head through the forest anyway and Tseng's patience was wearing thin. He had a headache, a permanent one. They began to head in to the gloomy depths of the forest.

Zekiel was a young Soldier, third class. He was a young man with messy blond hair and sparkling mako blue eyes who had happily signed up for ShinRa when the rebuilding projects started. He had suddenly found himself separated on a routine march through the Train Graveyard.

"Okay we need to keep our eyes open for clues." Tseng said noting that Rude still had his partner's jacket. "Zekiel would you please add this rag to your inventory of items?"

"Yes sir." He nodded and they carried on. The woods were depressing and Rude was sure that he spotted blood spots and gashes around the trees. Since no one else saw fit to mention it he decided not to bother either.

Elena meanwhile was stood in the centre of the street, which was pouring with rain and sobbing her heart out. The footsteps came nearer and she span around grabbing her gun and holding it out.

"You know that won't really bother me all that much." Came the deep sultry voice and Vincent appeared behind her. "So please put it away."

"Vincent?" Elena threw herself in his arms. She'd come to trust the ex-Turk when he rescued her from Kadaj and his brothers. Tseng and her herself had been tortured for information regarding Jenova's head but Vincent had managed to save them before they were killed. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't actually tell you." He admitted. "I've been here for a couple of days now. This place is evil. Everything about it seems to have a resonance of torture and anger."

"Well at least you are here. I was with Rude and Tseng and the next thing I know I was here." She straightened her uniform out. "I don't know what do to. We're looking for Rufus and Reno as they came through first. Please don't leave me alone."

"It's okay Elena I haven't seen anyone else so I would really rather not." He nodded and packed Cerberus back in the holster and they headed down the street. "Rufus and Reno are here?"

"Somewhere though I have no idea where as we went through after them. We thought they would have stayed near where they appeared but I wonder if we didn't all appear in different places if you are here and I am. We know Reno is here as we found his jacket but it was covered in blood and…" her voice shook a little, "and much as we might bicker I am worried about him."

"I would be more worried about us." Vincent said pointing down the road past an electricity pole and an old pick up truck.

A group of strange looking creatures were moving their way. Around ten of them, barely recognisable as humanoid and most definitely not friendly because some of them had crowbars and one of them had a shotgun. Without materia to aid them it was pure brute force and skill.

"I'd make sure you gun is loaded." Elena said to Vincent who merely gave her a dirty smirk and winked before stepping in front of her.

"It always is." He laughed.


	17. Chapter 17

Rufus had waited long enough for Reno to rest and they both got changed in to shirts and trousers. The redhead was still mumbling to himself about the place when they collected their weaponry and got read to move on. The hospital ward was a mess as they moved further in. There were beds and gurneys covered in blood and viscous spattered sheets.

"Don't touch them." Rufus said knowing Reno to be far too inquisitive at times.

The Turk nodded and headed on and they came out of the forecourt and on to the main street again. They planned to head to the Central Square Shopping Centre. The area might have some supplies along with food and books on the area before it began the rotting cesspit it now was.

They moved in to the abandoned town and Reno looked up. It was raining, not ash, but actual rain. Rufus appeared to have noticed the change too as he stepped out in to road. There were rotting carcasses of pick up trucks and cars that had rusted over the years.

"There's no sounds of animals." Rufus said. His voice sounded rather loud, even on his own ears. "No animals and no sign of life. What the hell happened in this place?"

"Fucked if I know." Reno shrugged and looked around. He could have happily shot himself in the head lately but he paced over to the street map and got ready to go. He figured that if they could at least get beer or something then it might pass quicker. He took up the bag and headed onwards.

Rufus watched him, mildly amused, his red ponytail swaying as he marched. He looked around the rotting city and headed to a newsstand on the side. The last date on it said something about the 1970's. He peered through the murky glass and looked at the headline.

"Yo boss!" He shouted Rufus over and pointed to it. "Underground fires cause government to order the evacuation of the town of Silent Hill." He read out to him through the murky glass. "Residents around a 1000 strong were asked to leave and sell up their homes as the government make plans to evacuate the productive town in West Virginia. The residents who have left were given money from the Government to find a new home. Nearby Braham's has taken most of those that wished to remain in the local vicinity. Approximately fifty people who refused to move have been told that they will not receive further rescue aids."

"So if there are people here they are idiots." Rufus surmised. "Typical…" He huffed.

"Well boss I guess it's like the slums ain't it? People don't like forced change. Accident or otherwise sometimes it's hard to accept shit flies at everyone at least once." He headed off towards the Central Square with his little piece of wisdom for the day shared.

"Yes I suppose." Rufus muttered though he clearly did not see their point. They moved towards the shopping mall and Reno swung his EMR around his wrist as they wandered. Rufus looked at the half open shutters. His Turk slid under it and looked around.

"No power sir but we can see enough I guess." He said and looked around. "We might be able to get around with our lights."

Rufus rolled his eyes and scuffled under the shutters and looked around. They were on the first floor and he looked at the shuttered up shops. Silver Ring House, Marguerites Clothes Store, Bert's Hat, Cosmetic Angel ad Watch Christopher greeted them. There was no sign of food but Rufus smirked.

"What?" Reno looked at him.

"Wanna try Marguerites for new attire?" He grinned. "I mean I heard you did drag for the local karaoke."

"Shut the fuck up," Reno looked at him shocked, "I mean sir… with all due respect now is not the time."

"I…" Rufus laughed. "You… in a skirt." He laughed louder watching Reno's cheeks flush as red as his hair. "Oh fuck you did!" He howled. "You actually did!"

"Just once for charity." He mumbled and looked around. "There are some toilets. I'm going for a piss. Don't wet your trousers." He stalked off.

The toilet door swung back and forth and Rufus stood trying to stop the laughter. Reno kicked the door open and ripped his trouser flies down and pissed in the bowl. He was still muttering when he knocked the side. The side curiously knocked back. Reno was in the middle stall and he knocked again. The cubicle partition knocked back.

Momentarily lost in the troubles of the toilet stall he didn't bother doing himself up properly and wandered to the toilet door. It was closed and he pressed gently on the door. Reno suddenly noticed that the toilets were foul, like Slums back of filthy bar foul, and that the door did not open. The door however suddenly unlatched itself when he walked away. He turned around, packing himself in his trousers and gingerly walking back towards it.

"Hello?" He whispered. His voice sounded rather loud in the silent fetid smelling toilet. "Hey you all right?" He poked his head around. "Holy shit!" He jumped back from the door.


	18. Chapter 18

If there was one thing Rude really hated it was the mud and clogging feeling at the bottom of his feet. He wandered with the other two for what seemed like hours until they came to a chain and metal fence. Zekiel turned his flashlight on and looked up and down the perimeter.

The battered fence was rusted and the nearby tree had been spattered with blood. The sign above the area stated that it was the power generation site for the Lakeside Amusement Park. The dangers signs for the high voltage pylons were lost to the ground and a few dead birds littered the area. They looked to have been there a considerable time. Zekiel threw a gil to the pylon. Seeing that there were no sparks he guessed that it was safe.

"I'll head in first." Rude told Tseng who drew his sword and prepared for any combat. Rude skipped through the fence and headed around the area. He made sure not to step on the dead birds as they headed through with the others following. "So we follow this path back to the Lakeside place and then…"

"We investigate that area." Tseng finished. "We have to just keep moving. If they are here we will find them."

"Sir." Rude nodded and after a long trudge down a barely lit lane they came to what looked like an air vent in the ground with steam piling out of it. Rude huffed as he walked past, underground fires, strange beasts, no beer and no chance of a clean ShinRa issue shirt!

They got to the road around the edge of the defunct fairground and looked over. The area was pitch black but curiously a few lampposts inside were lit. There seemed to be no sounds from inside however. Rude barged the large gate open and they clambered inside.

Immediately inside they stopped and looked around in shock. The area was a rotten mess of run down rides, left sideshows and large, pink rabbit teddy bears! The rabbits were possibly the most disturbing thing they had seen so far. The costumes were filthy and old coppery brown bloodstains were smeared around. The bodies inside still oozing yet they had no idea how long they had been dead.

"It says go north to the rollercoaster on the boards." Zekiel said. "There is another note about a carousel." He pointed. "So where do you fancy?"

"Anywhere but here." Tseng said looking at the cart nearby. The sweets on it were still wrapped up but he wasn't going to touch anything. He looked over for a sign of any recent movement but the counter was covered in dust.

"North then." Rude shrugged looking at the turnstiles.

"Where do they come from?" Vincent muttered as he cocked the gun and began to fire. Elena covered what she could with her gun. They shot at the strange creatures, black creations with arms and heads bound together under layers of skin that awkwardly crawled forwards towards them.

The dogs were faster, they ran towards them at varying speeds and as they tried to cull them with shots from their weapons one got close enough to rip at Vincents leg as he shoved Elena out of the way.

The dog had no head, instead like Frankenstein's monster it had a strange looking split down the middle of it's rotting stump which extended out as large mandible like things with a long tongue that whipped out and burrowed in to the skin. The vampires instinctively tried to pull back which meant that teeth and extended tongue ripped in through flesh and muscle crippling him and nearly bringing him to the floor.

"Shit." Elena shot at it and finally managed to get him clear. Vincent's eyes burned an angry red as he ran at several more with his claws, the pain causing him more anger and frustration than being lost in the gods forsaken town.

As quickly as they appeared the creatures were gone. The dogs ran in to side alleys and the creatures screaming out in rage and causing a chill through their very souls before turning to piles of burning embers which were swiftly carried away by gusts of wind or seeped away in to the ground with cloying blotches as the evidence.

"What the fuck?" Elena looked at Vincent who looked curiously back at her. "What?"

"You… they…" He pointed to the distance. Rude stood watching them at the end of the street. Behind him a large figure of a man, easily eight feet tall stood behind him. The image of Rude bore no sunglasses, no Turk's uniform, instead he wore what looked like an old black and white suit, a top hat and silver cane his only additions. He tipped his hat and turned. As he did so both the figure covered with what looked like a metallic pyramid cage over his head disappeared in to the blackened streets. Ash began to fall once more.

"We move now." She said and they headed towards the route that Rude had taken. They found themselves at a blocked off road heading towards the Shopping Centre. Elena climbed over the barricade with Vincent following.


	19. Chapter 19

"Holy fucking Shiva!" Reno jumped as he peered in to the stall. "RUFUS!" He yelled.

Rufus came running through and looked at the same thing as Reno. Strung up amongst barbed wire that was fixed in through the cubicle walls sat a human being. The barbed wire went through the roof of the victims' mouth, the body suspended by the wires through wrists and arms that were bent in unnatural positions.

Still it wasn't that fact that had both men staring at the body in disgust. The fact of the matter started with the well-known navy Turk suit, the second was that Reno was staring at what looked like him, strung up dead. Reno looked at the body, open blue eyes and scars on the cheeks…

"Oh wait up." Reno moved his hand over the tick marks under the cheek. "Yo there's only one me." He smiled and poked his own marks. "Tattoos kid not scars." He smiled.

"This is getting weirder by the moment." Rufus said as they checked the suited pockets. Reno nodded and pulled out what looked to be a key. "Well we might be able to find a use for that." Reno pocketed it and they found nothing else of use.

They headed outside and heard movement on the upper floor. The area was a mess and they were given very little choice about areas to go through half the time. Doors that were locked did not seem important. It was far more important to get the hell out at the first available opportunity.

They came out through a fire exit, which led towards a TV shop whose mesh front allowed people to look in. Strangely one TV was on though the electricity to the place had seemingly been cut some time ago. Black and white snow was depicted on it and Rufus leant closer to it intrigued.

Reno looked behind them at openly rusted escalators that went up and down. They ended abruptly where the middle section of the whole mall had collapsed. Reno looked down, down and down to a black hole that sported no bottom. He stepped back and watched the corridor. He had heard movement and he was not going to risk them being ambushed.

Rufus was about to pull back from watching the TV blaring out snow when he suddenly jumped. There was a figure in the snow and it moved in to view. Rufus ShinRa did not like what he was seeing because as the figure stepped forwards Rufus was greeted with a white haired katana-wielding nightmare. Jenova's son merely looked back at him before the TV turned itself off.

"Bastard." Rufus kicked the wall.

"Boss?" Reno looked at him slightly worried.

"If he's here we…" He sighed. "Damn it." He stormed off towards the fire exit and back down the stairs finding a large set of double doors.

"Hey Ruf…" Reno ran in to the back of the President who had walked in to the central plaza area. The fountain was running with clear water and the area looked dusty but there was a power supply as the vending machines were lit, a soda machine blinked that Sprite was sold out and the shop fronts looked closed down for the night but not abandoned.

Rufus was looking at Vincent who was stood with his arms folded across his chest enjoying a nice view of Elena on all fours by the soda machine trying to break in to the electronics to make it free vend.

"You pervy old bastard." Reno laughed and Elena shot up from the floor. "What the hell are you both doing in here?" He swung his EMR over his shoulder.

"Hello Reno." Vincent rolled his eyes. "We were simply trying to get to the vend." He said in a deep rich voice. His red eyes washed over the lean Turk and then to Rufus. His jaw tightened. "Rufus ShinRa…"

"Rufus!" Elena squealed and ran over in to his arms holding him tight. "Oh thank the gods!"


	20. Chapter 20

Tseng looked over the area in disdain. The fairground was a macabre vision of innocent toys and cute things that we're rotten, cracked, rusted or covered in blood. Not that he hadn't seen gross or weird before but the whole town was one crazy mock up of an idea or evil to the core. He didn't fancy the latter option. The idea of it being a bad dream or an awful joke seemed better.

"Sir." Zekiel pointed to the carousel as they walked down.

From the distance they could see that it had white painted horses that looked rusted and faded. Their paint chipping as they were held exposed to the elements and the green metal roof held them in place joining them to the rusted metal floor. They were held there like impaled creatures and Rude shook his head and moved on towards the rollercoaster.

Rude pulled his jacket around closer to his torso as they headed up the 'Mountain Rollercoaster' and towards the rides gated entrance. Tseng leant down and pulled up a bandage which had previously been occupied by something in pain he was sure of it. Blood, old dried and browning blood had literally soaked the thing until he had found it discarded.

The rollercoaster had once been painted a clean grey on the safety cages was not splattered with blood, which had in turn aided a rusting process. Whatever had happened here, fire or not, a lot of people had died. He stood on a metal sign, the noise echoed and he looked down at a Danger warning. Others were littered around. He went to turn around but suddenly Zekiel stepped on the tracks.

"Bad idea." Rude mumbled and as the Soldier walked down the main tracks. This was not the kind of place to precariously balance oneself he was sure of it. Zekiel wasn't even listening somewhere along the lines his brain had switched off and he almost robotically began to walk along the dangerous tracks.

Tseng made a decision to follow, as Zekiel seemed not to be in his right mind, then again, The Turk noted he had no idea what the right mind of him was. They had only just met. He took his sword out and followed, as the Soldier seemed to be following a direct path. Rude stood by the side of the entry and watched. There were no cars, they had either been removed or been destroyed but either way there were no signs of recent use.

They headed up the tracks with Rude watching. Zekiel was leading them higher up the tracks until quite abruptly coming to halt. There at the top of the railing, before the apex and broken rails giving to a large fall stood a tall thin man.

Tseng went to stop Zekiel but he was unable to get hold of him in time. The figure was one Tseng new all too well and he did not wish too. Jenova's chosen, Sephiroth brought hius sword around and slid through the Soldiers armour like a knife through butter. The white haired, one winged angel slid his sword free and the soldiers body fell down off the side of the roller coaster. His bag caught on the side.

"You will suffer the same fate." He said in a deep tone that rumbled through the air and reverberated through Tseng's core reminding him of so many bad times he had thought behind him. But if he was afraid he did not show it.

"You… I should have guessed." Tseng said preparing his sword.

"It is the way of things Tseng." He smirked and took a step forwards. "You have stood in my way before and survived but not this time." With that he ran towards the Turk who made ready to defend himself.

Tseng was expecting impact so when he briefly closed his eyes and steeled himself he came to find that upon opening him there was no sign of Sephiroth. He picked up the bag that the Soldier had left behind and sighed. If there was one thing he could do without it was Sephiroth and another threat to a planet. He walked back towards Rude and began to explain.


	21. Chapter 21

Vincent watched Elena run over to the President of ShinRa and sighed. He seemed to be wound in to the fate of the Electric Power Companies employees whether he wanted to be or not. Elena explained that she had been able to communicate with HQ briefly and they had a chance to be pulled out but then Rufus told them what he had seen in the television and everyone went quiet… even Reno.

Reno headed over to the vending machine and flipped the power switch. He didn't see the point in being delicate over the matter and slammed the electro-rod in to the glass and listened to the satisfying smash and following tinkle of cascading shards. He pulled out the drinks and food throwing what he had to everyone.

"Really now." Rufus sighed and looked over at him. "Was that necessary?"

"Yo boss, come on…" He snagged the top of the chocolate wrapper off with his teeth. "Don't tell me you ain't hungry and I ain't seeing a gil machine."

"Okay yes rather glad." Rufus acquiesced and they looked at the front doors. "I vote we stay here until the morning."

"How exactly do you know when that is?" Vincent asked his eyes washing over the annoying redhead.

"Good question." He smirked and looked through the large glass doors. "Right not it's approximately Ash o'clock."

"Idiot." Elena muttered. "How are you my boss?"

"By being better than you now shut up." Reno told her.

"Hey respect a little here." Vincent growled red eyes met blue. Vincent's hand idled Cerberus and Reno lightly tapped over his EMR.

"Reno stop taking the piss and do some work." Rufus ordered and the Turk begrudgingly backed off from the Ex-Turk. "Let's rest up and head out when we feel we can. There must be a clue to the others arrival?"

"Well sir," Elena braved an interruption, "Tseng and Rude were heading out around the forest area before near some amusement arcade."

"Lakeside." Reno said regurgitating what he had already heard. "Well boss we could head that way? Tseng's gonna be wanting to hear about Sephiroth if what you said to me was true."

A dead silence filled the room and Vincent looked to Rufus. Rufus brushed the blond hair from his face and looked at the vampire. What could he tell them? A passing glance in a TV and they would expect the world to end?

"It's nothing." Rufus said dismissing it and opening the doors. They headed out into the area and they noticed it was raining. "Curious."

"This was the weather when I arrived. Should it be different?" Vincent asked. Any answer he was about to be given was stopped when the phone in the Presidents pocket rang.

"Yes?" He flipped it open and listened. "Yes I damn well do. I am in some shithole called Silent… Hill… so get us out now." Reno snickered as the poor guy on the end of the line took a berating. "You get your message clear to whichever idiot is running the operation and someone better feed Dark Nation or I will feed you to him on my return."

Elena looked at Reno and Vincent who were keeping a respected distance from one another. They quickly pieced together that the rain was a good thing the team at HQ was able to communicate but when the ash fell they were on their own. They needed the whole group together and in the rain to get prolonged aid.

"Lakeside and let's hope Tseng and Rude are okay." Rufus said as they headed down the road. They made a strange looking group but Rufus strangely felt appeased by Vincent's presence. He needed someone he thought would worry Sephiroth and without Tseng about it was the vampire.


	22. Chapter 22

Tseng stepped around the corner towards the carousel with Rude following. The large Turk followed his leader and watched the area as they stepped over mutilated Pink rabbits and then passed cages with Holy only knew what. He ended up pausing by one to take in the details.

"Rude?" Tseng looked at him.

Rude looked at the contorted limbs wrapped around a rib cage which dripped with viscera as the internal organs writhed in erratic judders. Rude's mesmerised hand extended towards it curious about how it worked when there appeared to be no central brain. Tseng didn't like the idea of touching the caged victim but Rude's hand was already touching the open flesh.

His glove began to burn and Rude pulled it away quickly and discarded it. His other was added to the pile and he looked at the strange figure before stepping back and grunting. Tseng rolled his eyes and moved over towards the horrid looking fairground attraction.

"Is this really something we want to be standing on if the power starts or something even freakier occurs?" Tseng said with a smirk putting one booted foot on to the metal steps and heading on to the ride.

Rude just shook his head and stood up on there behind him. His hands crossed together at his front as he watched Tseng's movements. The Turks always seemed to like heading into trouble and always with a capital T and what if Sephiroth was here? Would they not be facing catastrophic pain?

Tseng was curious, so curious in fact that as he approached the fetid rotting horse he couldn't help but touch it. He suddenly found that he was just as curious about the carousel as Rude had been about the caged messes. The horse's saddle was wet when he touched the ageing leather. It felt like a wet sponge as his hand rested on it. He slapped the leather, blood spattered as it was expunged.

Rude watched, the carousel looked pretty harmless so he stepped on to it. Well it was as harmless as a blood spattered rotten looking thing could be… Rude never had been enamoured of funfairs. They simply had too many people, too many bright lights and even with a decent pair of shades all of the confusion led to keeping Rufus safe an almost impossible task.

What Rude liked even less was that he either stood on a trigger plate or some force of the supernatural and the carousel lit up. The music was like an old wind up box, some of the teeth would have to have been missing or perhaps just bent but the tune was off. It wasn't even so badly out of tune that you couldn't tell the tune. It made him stop dead in his tracks.

Fir Elise – he knew the tune so fucking well! He cursed. Reno would hum the blasted tue for hours, sticking in his ears, standing by the vending machine in the staff room. The guy loved it. Had a tiny music box that played it and he had told the big guy it was some toy he'd picked out of a trash can when he was in the slums. It had a couple of bent keys, the very same keys…


	23. Chapter 23

The troop of Turks and the President of ShinRa Electric power began to make their way around the winding trails. Vincent was the first to stop them dead in their tracks and Reno collided in to the back of him. Rufus had to stifle a laugh as the redhead got himself back to his feet.

"Can you hear that?" He asked the group and Elena picked something up on the wind.

"It's a music box?" She said as they stood in the trees at the back of the amusement grounds. Reno heard it, he shuddered and looked away before coming face to face with Rufus.

"Something I should know?" He said keeping eye contact with the redhead.

"No boss." He said but his eyes betrayed the lie.

Back home on the side of his rather messy bedside table was where the music box sat, playing that exact tune. The off note where a tooth in the box was damaged struck at the same point as the one at home, the one he'd found scavenging in the slums when he was a kid. He looked to Rufus who looked up and down his younger counterpart.

"Really?" He said, not even changing his tone. The sultry deep voice of Rufus ShinRa even caused the vampire to cock his head for a moment.

"It's just I have that tune on an old wind up music box at home." His face went bright red. It sounded pathetic. "I found it in a dumpster the same… err… key is off tune on it too."

"Now that is interesting." Rufus looked at him a little more softly. Reno didn't like to talk about his past much. It was a bad one and it wasn't one the President could see him wanting to talk about with Vincent and Elena stood near him. "Okay well we need to press on."

Reno was glad the President let that matter slide. His annoyances were lost for the moment as Rufus lay a hand on his shoulder and the group moved on. The redhead moved alongside Vincent as they came to large security fences. It was curious to see them in good condition, as the rest of the area was an utterly decaying mess. Vincent wasted no time in getting the other side and barely pausing to aim he shot the padlock off and let the others in.

They headed down the road feeling a little less confident the closer they got to the funfair. Vincent disliked the idea of Sephiroth at any cost but hadn't needed to voice it. The others felt the same way and seeing the carousel eerily lit in the background they all noticed the half broken rollercoaster shadowing over the park reminding them of the fallibility of age. Rufus shook his head and turned to face the horses that bobbed up and down on their mechanics.

Rufus spotted the figures on the carousel that moved out of time from the mechanical din of Fur Elise, once Rufus had liked that piece but his jaw tightened as he saw the redhead staring straight ahead.

"What is it?" Vincent asked looking to the hot-headed Turk who for one of the rarest of occasions stared at the mechanical fairground ride.

"Reno!" Elena shouted him but he was seeing something none of them could. Something he had prayed to forget since he was a child.

The young redhead had got no chance to see such things because they lived in the Slums. His mother had talked about it, when she was sober enough, about how she had been up there, had seen blue skies and nights that were lit by the moon not by Mako. He used to sit open mouthed at her feet on those rare sober occasions. She would tell him that her dad took her to a fair. He remembered the eager smile when she mentioned the carousel.

It didn't last long, his father came in wasted on some drug, handed her half of whatever cut it was and gone to the back room to spin it out. Reno hated the drugs, hated the anger that came when they ran out. Hated that everything they had ended up being hocked (pawned) in some local shop for a few gil to get beer, smokes and once in a while food.

Reno's food had come from begging outside the Bee, the slummiest dirtiest place on the face of the planet and under it. People traded in flesh and as soon as he was old enough his father packed him off there to work. Still after meeting Rufus ShinRa on a train going to a client he'd enjoyed beating the shit out of him and then subsequently because he had pulled it off without a Turk getting to him that day he was offered a job.

What Reno wouldn't do for the man in the white suit wasn't worth mentioning but right at that moment it was forgotten and why? The carousel was going around, the tune hitting the bum note and he wavered. A little redhead of five years old, actually him if he were to be precise, waved as he passed the Turk by and Reno's heart thudded.

"Reno!" Elena tried to get his attention. The Turk watched as Tseng's sword cut cleaning through him and through the horse he was riding. The small child fell either side, sliced clean in half and Reno let out a shriek before he suddenly had Elena's palm hitting one cheek. "Reno!"

"Shit sorry." He looked at the group now staring at him. "Yo, just memories." He sighed and picked up the electro-rod he had not even noticed he had dropped.

Tseng and Rude however had not even noticed the arrival of the troop the other side. Rude watched the motions and the horses themselves had a horrid glean to them of wet soggy flesh, the animals screamed pitifully as they moved around on spiked poles slicing up and down against them and Rude's ears rang with the racket.

Tseng however made a quick solution to the issue in his mind. This place seemed designed to drive people to insanity and he wanted no part of it. His sword was arced in one smooth motion through the first beast and though it did not go all the way through but the noise ceased.

"Better." He muttered before viciously swinging through to the next. "Rude…"

Rude wasted no time in swinging his fists to the next, the metal bar warping and twisting under the pressure he placed on it. The horses, one by one, slowly falling silent as the Turks took them out. When the noise abated and the two Turks looked up the carousel had stopped spinning. The night sky had returned to a silent fallen ash background.

"Sir we can't just wander around like this for the rest of eternity. I mean if, if Sephiroth is here we're quite screwed." Rude finally voiced.

"I am aware of that." Tseng said rubbing his forehead and trying to think of how to get to the President. "Okay we'll just have to try and think of…" He looked up and spotted movement.

"Reno?" Rude looked at the redhead who moved towards them. Rude and he had been partners long enough to know him whatever state he was in. Reno walked forwards, a large open gash where Cloud had struck him years ago. He moved forwards to the edge of the ride.

The two worlds collided for a moment. Reno extended his hand out to where he had watched the childish version and at that point Rude did too. Both Turks reeled backwards from a pain to their chests which sent them both flying backwards. Reno stood up and swaggered back towards the carousel and Vincent slid in front of him.

"What happened?" He asked his voice a deep dark rumble on the night sky.

"Rude." He said weakly. Vincent stepped up and the area lit up again and the music began to play. "Stop the noise!" Reno screamed as he passed out and Vincent failed to get to him in time. Rufus ran forwards to get to the redhead but it was too late. The two worlds crossed. Rude ran forwards towards the redhead and then…

It was all gone. Black. Rude could feel a body near him on the floor. Wherever he was it was not the fairground. He hated footsteps and then a light, the smallest amount of light showed they were in a cell. Rude looked down, the slither of red hair explained who he was with.

Vincent spotted Tseng stepping down to follow Rude. Rufus spotted his head Turk and moved forwards just as Reno and Rude disappeared. Whatever curse the President let out came out in Wutai and gratefully so Tseng noted. He looked at Vincent, Elena and then Rufus.

"Well fuck me if this isn't just getting more and more complicated." Tseng mumbled.


	24. Chapter 24

"Where are we?" Reno finally sat up and looked around before realising he was locked in a cell and sliding back against the wall. "I didn't?"

"No you didn't." Rude answered the question the panicked redhead had.

Reno had a secret; a well kept secret that very few knew about and he wanted it to stay that way. The little boy sat at home with the live in Nanny and his relationship with Rude. Only the closest people around knew about it and it never interfered with their work but Reno had struggled to come to terms with being a single father, then the new security of a family as his own had been anything but that.

"Okay." He looked around the cell. "Yo you sure we are…" He heard the footsteps and looked around. "Damn it."

"Well we could try breaking out." Rude shrugged. "Reno are you going to help me?"

"Sorry yeah." He snapped out of his musings and looked at the door and it's lock. "Old fashioned, okay there are two options here. You smash through or we pick it."

"Smash." Rude gave a small wry grin and Reno stood back. The well-built Turk concentrated on the lock and it's encasings for the briefest of moments before pulling his fist back and smashing in to it. "Sorted."

Reno followed the larger Turk around out in to the corridor and they both realised that the footsteps had stopped on the hall outside as they did so. Reno looked around and found an old notice on a wall. It was the Silent Hill Asylum, Reno snorted, they were in mental home? He looked at the dreary walls; cells with bars and no real sense of worth came from the area.

"Seriously Rude we have to get out of here. The place is driving me nuts just thinking about it, what sick fucking place is this? I can't beat the shit out of someone for answers if there is no one around." Rude nodded, a sure sign he was just rambling on and not actually serving a worth. "Do you even listen when I start blabbering or do you just nod at what seems like the right point?"

Rude simply smiled not actually giving the hotheaded Turk an answer. Reno shrugged and looked around, all his best stuff was stuck in the backpack of someone who had already fallen behind to he had to make do with the junk he could find. He yanked a metal pole off the wall and swung it around his wrist and decided that even his EMR was a better choice so stuck with it.

The metal pole clanged against a wall and fell in to a soggy green puddle at the side and then promptly dissolved. Rude moved his shades up a second and looked at it. He pulled his shades around and grunted before moving on. Reno followed him shortly after and was starting to think of ways to bring the town down with a bomb if the damned place didn't improve soon.

Rude and Reno flung open doors on to another level and then ventured up through dark corridors with only Rude's small torch for view. What they did not expect to bump in to at the time was a rather large creature with a sword easily twice the width of the smaller framed Turk. Reno bumped in to the back of his partner who looked up and up again to find that the head of the thing was covered in some kind of large rusted metal cage.

"Hell no." He muttered as he pushed the redhead back and just avoided the swinging cleaver like sword as it came around in the creatures' arms.

Reno had never gone toe to toe with one of them and didn't intend to start as the Turks moved away from it. Even Cloud's sword didn't compare to the size of that thing and all penis jokes aside they really didn't want the wounds to be able to do it either. Reno scuttled out over a set of railings at the far end of what looked like a strange lobotomy theatre and there was howling of pain.

The redheads already injured body fell on to a table and down in to a heap of discarded scalpels and body parts. His screams lasted mere seconds as blood sprayed out from behind the tables and clothes. Rude froze, so many things running through his mind. His boss, his lover, his President, ShinRa, home… lost, all gone from one trip through a deserted tunnel.

The shots behind him rang out clear and the materia that was attached to both Vincent's and Rufus' weapons seemed to kick in and work at a point they most needed it. The light and bullets careened towards the creature throwing it backwards.

"Elena get Reno." Rufus said stepping forwards proving just why the Turks were not always needing and firing a good clean shot which Vincent filled with several more. Rufus heard Tseng's sword and moved back to let the Turk through. Vincent slid to one side and kept a hail of bullets going as the Wutai Turk flung his sword around and charged in.

Elena ran towards the downed Turk not sure how to get him free as the sheets, warped and twisted limbs and various implements settled around him. Reno was barely conscious and Rufus lowered his gun and ran over towards him. He looked down, he even had to steel his jaw for fear of letting out his own gasp of horror as Reno was covered in scalpels and needles.

Behind them Tseng cleared his mind of distractions bringing the katana towards the Pyramid Head and slung the blade as one movement towards its neck. Tseng's body moved as one with the sword from years of training. He was not a man to mess with and Rude gathered his thoughts and moved towards Rufus intent on protecting the President as they tried to establish how to move Reno out.

The blade swept through the flesh exposing the rotting fetid meat underneath and black blood sprayed out. The Turk swung under again and turned the blade to run it up and under the creatures' arm searching the artery and digging deep into old and rotted leather-looking skin. Vincent caught the creatures neck as it swung the injured arm up and fell backwards.

Tseng moved to one side and taking no chances brought the blade past his own torso, blade cutting through the falling monsters neck, blood arching out across the room and finally falling down. Vincent kept Cerberus trained on the thing as Rufus and Elena looked at the myriad of blades, syringes and instruments perhaps once used to help men now used to injure. Rufus took the initiative to step over the downed table and push it back to give them more room to work with.

"Fuck this." Rude muttered and ignoring everything he ripped the redhead up off the floor and pulled out blades and knives, syringes and anything else that got in his way. He handed him over to Vincent and then searched for a cure material.

"We haven't been able to get the stuff to work here." Elena told him.

"It will." He grunted and sliding it in to his bracer and closed his eyes. He concentrated, pulling hard from his own life source and finally finding a way to bring the healing magic forwards. Reno stirred as the main cuts that threatened to kill him were healed.

"You always were better at it." Elena said relieved. "Tseng, Rufus we need to get out of here before one of us is killed."

"One of us was." Tseng said flicking the blood from his sword and sliding it back to its rightful place at his side. "We need to head to the church and let's see if we can at least get some semi clean surgical aids. Vincent would you like me to take my Turk?"

"He's fine really, less annoying like this actually." Vincent said grimly trying to pull off a joke.

"I'll let him know you said that." Rufus smirked and patted Tseng's shoulder as they walked out of the macabre theatre.

"Yo I heard you." Reno whispered weakly. "When I get well I'm gonna kick your ass."

"You never have yet." Vincent laughed and carried him out to the front of the Asylum where they looked out over ash-covered roads, steam pouring out and in the centre of the road Sephiroth stood.

"Welcome to Silent Hill." His deep voice growled as he looked over them. "Welcome to your Hell."


	25. Chapter 25

Vincent looked at the figure in front of them. They didn't need this, not right now… this was just beyond bad news and in to a new realm of unhappily received welcomes. Rufus seemed to be wearing a similar expression, the sight of the vampire holding one of his best Turks did little to hold his fears in check but if he was going to go down it would be with a fight!

"Thanks for the welcome but honestly, we are only passing." Rufus ShinRa stood eyes locked with Sephiroth's then heard Rude cough gently behind him and nudge the gun.

"That will not save you." Sephiroth's deep voice covered the dark night. "Then again nothing will." He laughed and black feathers from his one wing scattered around the area as he disappeared.

Rude looked to Tseng who looked blankly back towards him. There was no need to say it, to voice the utter sense of failure that came to their expressions. They were dead if he decided to fight, without Cloud…

"Tseng, Vincent I have to admit you are our best hope right now." Rufus told them. "I don't care what he says, I don't fail."

"Easier said for you ShinRa." Vincent muttered. "But are you prepared to let everyone else die for your success?" He pointedly held out the semi-conscious redhead.

"No one will die."

"Someone already did." Elena snapped ending the conversation as she stalked off down the street. "And more to the point if we don't leave soon someone will."

"I'm good." Reno muttered. "It's all good." He whispered struggling to keep with them but refusing to give in.

If anyone was looking they didn't mention the softest touch from the head Turk as he passed Rufus, the President hated being out of control in many things and Tseng knew it. They had worked and breathed together so long that it was second nature. When the group followed Elena moments later it was only Reno that looked like he had been defeated and even then if you had asked the redhead the chances were he'd have lied.

Elena was fuming, this place was taking them on a hideous grand tour and if the designer was Sephiroth then she wanted out even more. She spotted the Grand Hotel and looked back to the others. At least they could properly assess the redhead there. She nodded to Rude who politely gave a nod back. It was better to take stock of the situation before taking a gruelling walk towards the cemetery and to reach the church.

The place looked like it would once have held some fantastic dinner parties, wedding receptions, and so many things that all would have been joyous and now it stood as another reminder that the town was pretty much deserted. The few people that they had seen were either crazy or suicidal and the monsters they were meeting were like nothing they had encountered before.

"Sofa over there should be okay." Rufus said picking through the debris on the floor until he got to the object of his desire, a large sofa with some cushions. They turned the cushions around in a vain attempt at cleanliness and lay the Turk down. Rufus looked around the hallway and they tried to get an idea of what they could or could not use.

"I'll check for some supplies." Elena said and Tseng followed her. It was decided that going alone anywhere was a bad thing so at all time they ended to shadow around one another contently. She walked in to the large kitchen with a smile and saw a first aid box on the wall. "It's not much I know but at least we can get him to relax and maybe we can bandage the worst of it."

Reno meanwhile was just about to relax and close his eyes when he felt something sticking in his back right next to a gash where a scalpel had tore through his pale flesh. Vincent saw him moving around and leant over to retrieve the annoyance, he was mildly surprised they hadn't noticed it. The brochure for the hotel had missed by everyone who had turned the cushions. He sat on the sofa at the side of Reno and read through it.

"Tell me a story then man." Reno told him watching the others checking the room out and securing what they could.

"It says here that the Grand Hotel was just that," Vincent said his eyes skimming the finer points, "there's a newspaper clipping of more interest." He told the redhead unfolding it. Rufus stood watching and Rude kept quietly behind him. "The Hotel was built in the 1920's or something."

"Is that the house make? The year?" Rufus asked him.

"I have no idea." Vincent shrugged. "I would guess it was the date since the top of the paper reads 1982 and is dated with a month of September. Also I would guess that they are talking about this as a more historical event judging by the clipping."

"Well it's fits with the information we have so far." Rufus nodded.

"Okay well," Vincent continued, "it sounds like they had a coal mine that was used up until the point at which the underground fires started. There's some speculation here about how it happened. Some say it was careless rubbish burning and it caught fire, some say that it was a catastrophe when they tried to burn someone alive in a cult ritual." He turned the paper over. "Some kid called Alex was caught up in some fire there and they say that his ghost has been spotted wandering around."

"Alex…" Rufus nodded and looked to Rude and then Reno. "Wait…"

"What?" Rude looked at him.

"He looked just like Rude right?" Rufus took the paper up and looked at the picture. Taking a few years off and making Rude around eighteen the whole thing was looking too damned similar to ignore.


	26. Chapter 26

"_Black gloves, black mask, black shirt, black pants, blue steel, blue vest, he's dead you next." Reno was singing along following Rude. _

"_Are we actually doing anything here or just standing around waiting?" Rude asked, the song was starting to irritate the crap out of him, mostly because Reno insisted on poking at Rude's head or jacket half way through to point out that he thought it matched him well enough._

"_We got told to let the bookie head out of the building and then to think about the idea of questioning who he was meeting. Boss seems to think the dirty ole bastard has been winging cash off the sides in the office over at HQ and that he's coding some mafia dudes books to hide the figures of how much they are exploiting yada yada." Reno yawned and looked up at the high skyscraper._

"_You know he'd probably be well suited to a Turk then." Rude smirked as they headed back to the car they had for the stake out._

"_Yeah whatever." Reno jumped in through the open window and in to the passenger side. He lit up a cigarette and picked up the camera again. Rude looked back over to the building and ignored the redhead as he started to mumble the tune again._

Reno woke up several hours later, his back stiff the dream still in his mind. He couldn't remember what had made him think of it but he did smile a little. The smile faded when he tried to sit up. His body was sore and his head was killing him.

"Reno you're awake." Elena smiled and helped him to sit up. "Don't rush too much. We have put some bandages and stitches in and we're going to try and use the day light hours to get to the graveyard and in to the church."

"Okay." He nodded and looked around. Rude was stood by the large entry doors and hadn't been able to rest since the redhead passed out. He wouldn't have done either if asked. His partners' health was far more important than dozing off. "Rude man take a break I am sure Tseng can cover."

"We've all had some rest apart from Rude." Elena said softly as she toyed with his ponytail. "We wanted to get there in one piece and we don't want any more injuries."

Rude nodded when she spoke and headed to the large reclining chair by the fireplace. He closed his eyes almost immediately and Rufus and Tseng continued to talk about their ideas of what was going on and why. The largest problem they faced was if Sephiroth was involved because he would be a loose cannon.

Rufus was of the opinion they needed to get in the Church and try and find anyone half coherent whereas Tseng felt another trip back to the school to look for records on Alex might be in order. In the end Vincent elected to go to the school while the rest headed to the Church on the outskirts near the graveyard.

The plan was made and the Turks helped Reno to his feet when the sky turned from pitch black to ashen grey. They opened the doors to the Grand Hotel and Vincent slipped out back in to the town proper, whoever this Alex was it was felt that he had been the reason they ended up there. They needed to know what he wanted, what had happened and maybe then they could figure a way out.

Slowly but surely they got Reno to his feet. With his arms around Rude and Elena's shoulders they moved onwards with Tseng taking point to watch and Rufus with his gun in his hand just in case. They moved through ashen streets and the Turks felt the weight of the sad events of an abandoned town left to rot. There was no sense of achievement to anything that had happened so far.

Reno shuddered as they passed an opened crack in the road. The steam rose up from the coal fire raging beneath. His mind went back to the bloodied walls they had walked through when he and Rufus had fallen through that hole. Rufus was filthy, the pristine look of the President was long gone. He stumbled on with them feeling like he had somehow caused it all.

Exactly what the creation of Silent Hill seemed to be about. Personal Nightmares and own made demons…

Rude was worried, not just for Reno but also for the trip home. He made a silent prayer to Holy that they would not meet Sephiroth head on. They hadn't got the strength of mind let alone the physical determination, well maybe Tseng and Vincent could hold him off but that would probably resort in more death.

Rufus on the other hand was impatient, wanted answers and wanted back where he could control things. Currently this was not happening and the ShinRa president didn't like it one bit.

As this happened Vincent made his way to the school in the south west of the town. Midwich Elementary School might have more records and clues on Alex. He kept Cerberus in his hands ready to use the gun if needed and he cautiously passed the Balkan Church before heading up the stairs and to the large double doors where the Turks had been before.

There was a pregnant pause and sigh from the vampire as he headed in to the school and its dark corridors. The smell of the place was off putting to someone with his advanced senses. He grimaced, as he could smell stale urine and the dust of creatures long dead settling against the walls. His heavy metal boots sent a ripple of noise that echoed out and Vincent smirked. If there was anything about with it's senses it would leave and not try to be foolish enough to attack.

"Alex…" Vincent muttered. He wandered past a group of lockers, which had been attacked with graffiti at some point. The vampire stopped, his red eyes washed up and down it. 'Freak, monster, outcast' these things and more had been sprayed. Vincent sighed, he knew the feeling well.

Vincent heard movement and his head snapped around, the vampire's keen eyesight followed a shadow moving off down the right hand side of the building and he took flight after it. He passed several corridors before he came to a classroom where the door was still swinging from the recent barrage of being hit and the person diving through.

On the other side of the room was a young man with dark brown hair, spiked and messy like he'd just got out of bed. He turned as the larger figure came through the doorway and rubbed his eyes from where he had been crying to look up at the red-eyed creature. Vincent saw that the child held no fear for the larger man and he watched confused.

"Who are you?" Vincent asked when finally the child's hands fell to his sides.

"Alex sir." He looked at the raven haired man. Alex hopped on the desk and looked at him with a laugh before disappearing. Vincent made to grab for the child but it failed and his hand came away with a pile of black ash. "Vincent." The same voice appeared behind him.

Vincent turned and heard a wail, the shrill childlike noise pierced right through him. For a moment it turned to a new sound and Vincent stumbled back, the sound of his own screaming from the experiments ShinRa had wrought upon his body. The noise of his wails that no one heard as he came around to find he was no longer Vincent Valentine the Turk… he was a monster… a creation. He stumbled back.

"Cursed." Vincent heard himself whisper as black shapes surrounded him. More of the childish shapes came up around, their wails at times reminding him of the screams that Elena and Tseng had sang out on the skies that night he had gone in to rescue them from their torture.

Cerberus was fired. The materia attached to it joined the bullet and slid through a score of them towards the back wall. The young Alex watched and Vincent spotting him again aimed the gun in his direction. Again the young man seemed to vanish and appear the other side of the room.

"Give me the pleasure of taking it away." The young man smirked and then the room went utterly black. Vincent stumbled against a desk and looked around trying to find a light source. Vincent found the main window and was about to shoulder barge his way through when he saw the young man silhouetted against the window. "That won't save you Vincent. You're cursed remember."

"I will go when I say so." Vincent said stalking that way feeling creatures clinging at his sides. He waded through and came face to face with what looked like Rude the gun went to the man's forehead. "I want answers."

"You came to the wrong town then Vincent Valentine." He said looking at the vampire.


	27. Chapter 27

"What the hell is this place and why are we here!" Vincent shouted at the man who was blockaded in by the creatures. Vincent wanted to know what was going on and he wanted to hear what would happen to them. If they were all damned then at least they could prepare for death to come and go down fighting.

"Silent Hill." Alex said resting against the window frame. "I died here thirty years ago in the fire that ravaged the town. This town is a product of nightmares and people who should have been sent to hell but then again hell is probably too good for most of us."

"What do you know of damnation and more to the point why does this involve any of us?" Vincent looked at him with cold red eyes.

"I know that since you all found your way here each one of you has had reason to consider the weight of your crimes." Alex looked at him coldly. "The weight of each of your crimes."

"Some are more than others." He said coldly looking at him. "How do we get out? Are you feeling charitable enough to tell me that yet?"

"Charity? No that's a virtue this place never has had or will have." Alex sighed and looked out of the window as if remembering a better day. "Anyway you won't be allowed out. She won't allow it."

"She?" A million thoughts immediately ran through the vampires mind. She being? Jenova, Lucrecia? Who! "Who is sh…" But Vincent had to stop his questions when he realised that he was back in the room alone, black ash settling on the desks where bullets had ripped through the strange creatures was the only indication of him not being alone for those minutes.

He looked around the rest of the area and headed in to what looked to have once been a staff room. He picked up the school reports and flipped through until he found the report card for Alex. The young man was eleven when the report was written out and Vincent spent some time reading the report card. His parents were considered outcasts for some reason and the teacher had spared the child no rein in letting him know about it.

Alex it seemed was quiet but intelligent and his father was a friend of the owner of Nathan's Drug Store. The father had lost his wife when she had an affair and he had bid her to leave. Vincent read this with interest, as he did not understand what it had to do with his level of education. It seemed that since mother had done wrong it was considered that father and child had too. The raven haired Vincent shook his head and picked the paper up and headed over towards the exit.

As Vincent was investigating this the Turks were stuck slowly moving towards the church. They took the path through the graveyard and out towards the smaller church as the one in town seemed too near the school and if they could perhaps find a way out of Silent Hill they might even be able to escape it once and for all.

Reno stumbled between the others and headed up the slope slowly. Elena was starting to worry that much more of this would send one of the group over the edge and the last thing anyone needed was to see a fight between the Turks. She looked over the edge of the graveyard and spotted high standing angels praying up to the sky for the deceased lying around them buried to remain in peace. Elena shuddered, what if they were not laid to rest in peace and came back?

"Come on rookie." Reno nudged her with his boot at the back of her leg.

"Sorry Reno." She smiled a little and moved forwards.

"You look much better when you smile." The redhead said as they moved onwards.

"Insatiable flirt." Rude shook his head and laughed as they moved on and the injured Turk to put one foot in front of the other until they came to the Church door.

The church itself was surrounded in the strange half-fog and half-ash that fell constantly. There was a road that ran adjacent on a higher bank and an old Land Rover sat with all its doors open and no sign of life. The road and Church path met on a makeshift car park, which was gravel mixed with mud. Elena and Tseng left Rufus and Rude to scout the area and check the abandoned vehicle.

"If nothing else we could try and get it working?" Elena suggested to the head of their division and was met with a nod.

Tseng wanted to be home, it wasn't the violence that bothered him it was the prolonged fear that they would not be returning to their own world. Midgar might well be a ruin and other areas still had fractal violence but it was home. They moved to the vehicle and he stopped Elena before she got there.

"What's wrong Tseng?"

"I would suggest you don't look." He said calmly even though his Turks knew violence and had done so much of it themselves some things he never wanted another living person to see and this was one of them.

Elena trusted his words and Tseng popped the lock to the Land Rover and opened the door. His hand was already moving so he could catch the body of the man at the drivers' wheel. Tseng just needed to clear the drivers' seat and planned to drive around the corner and dump the bodies. He moved the body on top of what he guessed must be his dead wife's and then started the engine.

The others waited as Tseng pulled the car around and got to the dumpster around the back of the car parks toll booth. Pushing the bodies into the dumpster the others dived in the car holding Reno steadily between them. Rude and Elena settled with him and Vincent opted to follow them on foot. He would be able to move just as fast anyway.

"We're in the central area and we need to get out on to…" Tseng looked to Rufus who had in short hand with a rather nasty looking leaking pen made what he could of the town map.

"Sandford Street and the T-junction for Nathan Avenue." Rufus told him as he looked out of the window. "Don't bother stopping. Run everything that gets in the way over."

"Yes Sir." Tseng nodded and put his foot down. Elena looked at the Land Rover and could smell old rotting corpse in it but at least they were making a decision to get the hell out.

If there was one thing Tseng liked to do it was drive and after several near misses with Sephiroth. Kadaj and his gang amongst other tales the chance to put his foot down never went amiss. He sped through the suburb and around the outer road of the lake and into the area they asked for.

Reno felt a jolt on his body and opened his eyes as Tseng ploughed through two or three of the strange monsters. He cursed as he clipped one at a bad angle and the vehicle swerved. He pulled them around and headed straight down the road out which he had been told would lead to Brahms.

"Tseng!" Elena screamed as she saw through the fog what the others were seeing now too.

"Stop!" Rude yelled at him and the brakes were hastily applied as the end of the road came to them and the front wheels stopped just shy of going over the fallen away road. To greet them there was only a sheer drop into what looked a bottomless fall as the ash and fog made visibility so poor.

"Fuck…" Reno moaned as he was thrown forwards and landed halfway in the front.

"Sorry Reno." Rufus gently eased him up and kissed his Turks forehead. "Just stay with us okay?"

"Doing my best boss." He nodded as Tseng swung the car around.

"Where should we go then?" Tseng asked as they headed back to the town.

"I would suggest the hospital." Elena and Rude spoke at the same time. The redhead was bleeding through his bandages and at least until they could establish contact with ShinRa they had a focal point. Vincent appeared behind them following along. The only sign that the vampire was still there was the occasional glimpse of red movement.

"Go the Alchemilla Hospital its closer on the central plan here." Rufus pointed out. "We need him resting."

"Sir with all due respect…" Reno panted. "I just wanna get the hell home."


	28. Chapter 28

Vincent followed them in to the hospital; this one was cleaner than the other one he'd seen. The windows were in one piece for the most part and an old Ambulance sat pretty much in tact by the entrance doors. Vincent opened the doors following the bloody trail Reno had left behind.

The Turks had got him on a bench in the reception which had a telephone and some magazines along with a notice that looked years out of date to say that renovations would be completed within six months but clearly had not been before the town was deserted.

Rufus had found the floor plans and along with Rude they were memorising the area and taking more sketches. Rufus had made a plan to hit the medicine room at the end of the entrance, then they could rest up in the waiting room and on the second floor was an operating room they might be able to get sutures and the likes to change the dressings.

"Yo," Reno looked over to Rufus as he wrote, "you should leave me and run while you all got the chance."

"And you should shut the hell up because it never worked that way and never will." Rufus reminded him as they made the notes. "Vincent…"

"Yes?" The ex-turk sat on the counter and looked at the pamphlets for the hospital.

"I think I would prefer it if you kept Reno guarded." He looked to the redhead. "We'll try and find a bed for him and hope that the scientists can communicate soon."

"Okay." Vincent looked at him. "But I wouldn't take it too slow looking at him."

Rude and Elena opened the doors to the medicine room and began to search the dusty bottles. They weren't experts in these things but with a chart on the wall and some other decoding tools they got what they thought they would need and took the gurney too. Wheeling it out Reno opened his eyes.

"I'm not that bad." He muttered.

"Yes you are." Rude said as they eased him up and pushed him in to the waiting room. "Right what are our orders now sir?" Rude looked to Rufus.

"I'll stay here with Vincent and you three head out and see what you can get from the second floor." Rufus nodded and looked at the redhead who had passed out again.

The three Turks headed up to the second floor via the lift. It surprised them that it still worked as they headed up to the operating preparation and theatre rooms. The area felt rotting and abandoned which did little to raise their hopes. Tseng took the lead as they headed down the corridors. He muttered to himself, what he wouldn't give to be back in the penthouse listening to Rufus unwind with champagne.

The door was locked and Elena looked around and saw a scalpel on the side and pulled it out. She moved to the lock and leant over. Tseng winked to Rude who rolled his eyes and then politely coughed. Elena shook her head and concentrated on the lock. The room looked pretty tidy from the outside and the operating room might well have what they needed to get people moving around with more confidence. Elena let out a satisfied mumble as the lock clicked open as she had successfully picked it. She had got them inside and the two men took point to enter.

There was a strange creature in the corner of the room which Tseng guessed to be hostile. Nothing in Silent Hill had so far been anything else; he drew the katana at his side and burst out at the thing. It had no describable features, its arms wrapped in decayed filthy bandages as it stumbled forwards. Its head had no features either as the eyes and face had been bandaged. It lunged forwards and spat at the Turk.

Tseng flew into it and the other two watched as they secured the door. The creature was disgusting and he wanted it out of their way fast. As Tseng took on the creature Elena was momentarily transfixed by the mirror. Rude went to move her and spotted the same thing.

The mirror to the surgery room was reflecting but from the mirrors view the whole thing was rotten and decayed. The room was sickeningly dilapidated and there was a body on the operating table where as in their room there was something moving around. Rude was the one to notice that the creature lying on the table on the other side looked remarkably like the son of Jenova.

"Hell no." Rude muttered.

Tseng threw himself over the table against the spitting creature it leapt at him and grabbed around the Turks waist with its legs they were both locked in a fight. Elena and Rude had their guns out but they could not get a shot with their boss against it and risk hitting him even if he had a chance to survive.

Tseng threw the creature as best as he could from spitting more of the acidic gloop directly in his face but he struggled with it and wrested his sword free. The creature bounced off him and on to the table and the window opposite. The other two moved towards the window where they thought Tseng would collide with it but instead he passed straight through.

"Boss!" Both the Turks stuck with the creature their side forgot it was there as he fell through and landed on the bloody floor the other side.

"Go!" Tseng shouted at them and ran towards the surgery door thinking there should be a corridor around to them after finding the mirror to be solid again.

The two Turks moved towards the door hearing further movement from outside. The situation did not look good and they had just lost Tseng. Rufus was going to go mad at them. Vincent had heard the noise and as the Turks came running along the corridor he covered them with a hail of bullets towards the creature stumbling after them.

The bullets pulled through skin and bandage and it shuddered on the floor. Rude turned around and shoved his thick heavy boot in to his back with a yell. It jerked and spasmed on the floor before finally falling silent and a pool of blood surrounded it.

"Where is Tseng?" Rufus dashed forwards but Vincent put an arm out to stop him. Elena threw the supplies on the floor and with a shaky voice began to explain. The best Turk they had was again out against Sephiroth alone. She didn't hide her fears as she told him what they had seen behind the mirror.

"No…" Rufus muttered and turned to the box and lifted it on the gurney near Reno. "He's a survivor. He's not going to fall behind."

"Boss…" Rude sighed. "We have to accept the fact we might not be getting out."

"Yes we are." Vincent said and opened the door. He heard footsteps and swords and dashed out to try and find Tseng. The two of them had to find a way to stop this.


	29. Chapter 29

Tseng bounded through to the corridor to avoid the silver-haired demi-god on the table in the surgery room. He was starting to feel tired and with it a dreaded sense of hopelessness that the Turk was personally not used too. He was the wrong side of the blasted world to protect the man he admired and Tseng admired very few.

He heard something move behind him and turned to see the one-winged angel behind him walking slowly down the corridor. Tseng ran towards the large wooden double doors to take him down the stairs towards the rooms. He burst through and towards the metal steps.

Behind him Sephiroth swiftly moved to catch up and Tseng's heart was thundering. He had been made aware this was a replica of the original with their investigations but it didn't stop the sinking feeling that he was alone with no back up. Years ago his fight with the son of Jenova had left him for dead and only a miracle had prevented it.

Tseng knew he was not the type to get lucky again.

He slid down the banister on the bottom run and out through the doors just as Sephiroth's sword collided with it and Tseng turned to see him draw masamune. The Turk was no coward, his job amongst all was the hardest any one man could take on, protecting one of the most noted figureheads of the world they lived in, killing anyone that got close to trying to harm the President, but Tseng knew when he was beat. If this thing was even a partial part of the originals strength he would not be going home, period.

"I am your nightmare Tseng." Sephiroth boomed as they headed down on to the lower floor. His booted feet were strong and steady down the hallway as Tseng flew over the counter to the reception and looked around for an idea to get the hell out. The front doors to the hospital for some reason were locked. He bolted over the counter again narrowly missing the swipe to his chest. "Fight me Tseng… give me the pleasure of a sporting kill."

Tseng drew his sword and caught another blow. The strength was enough to concern the head Turk as he nearly lost the fight but stepped back in time. Drawing the blade to the side they circled one another and Tseng looked to the Waiting Room, were they in there?

"You haven't figured it out have you?" Sephiroth laughed when he glanced to the room. "This is the real world Tseng the other is… hell."

"No this is… hell." Tseng growled. His sword flipped around in his hand as he back up again.

"Then you must be dead Tseng." Sephiroth mocked him and took another step forwards. Tseng's sword came around to defend him as he was backed against the wall. He was moved down the wall until he hit the woman's toilets and Sephiroth's sword clattered against the wall. The Turk fell through the open door and slid through across sludge, blood and excrement in to the far wall.

The mirror on the other wall again reflected the cleaner side of the hospital. Sephiroth went to bring the sword down again when he heard the mobile phone in the Turks pocket. Tseng ignored it and moved in to the back of the room. Sephiroth distracted disappeared in a shower of black feathers.

"Yes." He snapped the phone open.

"Sir it's… sir where the hell are you?" One of the other Turks asked.

"Silent Hill. How do we get out?" He said picking himself up and screwing his face up at the state he was in.

"Sir we only have you on the radar can you tell us if the President is safe?"

"Yes he… well was I need to check that." Tseng sighed and looked at the mirror. "If this is the right side for you to pick us up then we'll have to get this side and stay it." He didn't add that it was the last place he wanted anyone to be either.

"Sir if you can confirm when you are all together we should be able to warp you out."

"Should is not good enough. Get it sorted." Tseng said and snapped the phone shut. He looked at the mirror and gently probed the glass. It warped and bubbled. He pressed his palm to it and closed his eyes.

Tseng appeared the other side and looked around. The hospital wasn't bubbling with acid and blood but it was still the abandoned looking place they had come in to. He made a mental map of where he was and where they needed to be and then cursed. He was in the woman's toilets and the view of him leaving was going to be quite predominant.

"Boss?" Elena heard footsteps and ran towards the area where Tseng appeared. He walked out and she gasped. "What the hell happened?"

"Sephiroth." He said suddenly aware that he was not just covered in blood but he was bleeding.

"Tseng." Elena moved him to where the others were sat around and Rude stood up and looked at him.

"Don't worry about me." He shrugged her off. "The other side have managed to get to us, our own world. We need to be the other side of this… this place."

"Sir." Rude nodded and looked to Elena who felt stupid for showing her concern. He'd never noticed her in this many years why start now?

"Do you know how to get that side?" Vincent asked breaking the tense silence that was starting to form.

"Yes we have to go through mirrors, ones that reflect the other side of this town." Tseng nodded and looked to Elena and mouthed a sorry. "We need to get Reno through and that could be difficult with the closest one being the women's toilet vanity mirror however we could try and rig up the lift and go to the room where we found the larger mirror."

"And to the spitting weird thing in straight jackets." Elena pointed out. "Either way it's not going to be easy."

"We can take on one between us I should think." Vincent nodded. "We need to keep him on that gurney as long as possible."

"Too true." Rufus said moved to undo the brakes on it. "Tseng help me move him."

"Yes Sir." Tseng moved to the gurney and they began to move along slowly out of the room. Vincent decided he would take the lead as it he was the most able bodied of them all. "Rude can rig the lift. We'll take our chances going up. Sephiroth was down…. We have to avoid him, replica or not."


	30. Chapter 30

They moved slowly to the lift with everyone sticking together. The idea of being pulled apart from one another causing a ripple of concern, as they knew on their own the town would rip them apart. The building was beginning to feel claustrophobic and the area suppressed their hopes as they moved to the lift and Rude pulled out the electronics panel.

"Can you fix it?" Rufus looked at him as his hand played with the redheads' ponytail and they waited.

"I need his EMR but yes." He nodded. "It's just fused and if we can get the doors open it should kick in to life I'm sure."

Tseng looked to Elena with a gentle smile and she blushed before handing over her own EMR. Reno's was dead and the charge probably wouldn't be enough so hers was a better bet. Rude began to concentrate on the efforts and heard a familiar ping from opening lift doors. They wheeled the gurney in and Tseng's bloodied footsteps followed behind.

"I need a shower I know." Tseng looked to Rufus who was looking up and down. Tseng had some serious wounds just like his second but he was walking and he wouldn't accept defeat. "Sorry Sir."

"It's fine… I think you'll need stitches more however." He pointed out.

Vincent looked up at the lift's small light, which flickered as the whole cage juddered upwards. He cursed himself for watching far too many late night action and horror films with Cloud. Sure he was a pretty fearless creature but a cage falling down to the basement did little to appeal to him and he kept a wary eye out as they moved.

The doors opened to the large corridor and towards the larger room with the strange mirror. Inside the room they could hear mad scrambling around and Vincent pulled his gun and looked to Rufus, finding a new respect that the younger President of ShinRa was willing to get his hands dirty with his Turks unlike the last one who grew fat on power and died by Sephiroth's sword.

"I'll go." Vincent nodded. Elena moved in behind him to cover him with her gun and Rude kept a watch in the corridor. The gunfire seemed louder than ever as it echoed through the halls of the abandoned hospital.

The strange creature in the straight jacket lunged towards the vampire who pushed it back with his metal-clawed hand and fired again. Elena fired at the things kneecap; it exploded with a brownish sloppy liquid and collapsed still struggling to get to the ex-Turk. Vincent booted it and turned it out into the floor before firing a shot in to the things spine and what he assumed was the head for good measure.

Rude grunted a warning as he heard shuffling coming from the dark corridor and more of the faceless nurses came their way. There must have been a dozen or more attracted to the noises, juddering along towards them. Vincent threw the operating table aside and they all but dived through to the window with the gurney.

"Lift!" Tseng shouted to Rufus. They hauled the redhead out of the bed and towards the large window. Elena ran to join them and Vincent and Rude covered them as they took their chances and dived through.

Rufus and Tseng landed with the redhead on top followed by Elena who rolled clear and began to scan the area for signs of Sephiroth. Vincent and Rude who landed on the thick mucus like floor and looked down in disgust before looking back at one another.

"Phone." Rufus held out his hand. Everyone went to their pockets but he took Tseng's in the end. "They called you and Elena right?"

"What if we can only get a fix via phone, Reno's is out and Vincent do you even have a phone?" Elena asked looking to the taller figure.

"Yes but it's at home." Vincent shrugged. "I wasn't planning to be here to be honest."

Rufus nodded and dialled to the office. He wanted home, wanted back to Edge, Midgar or somewhere he knew. Even the sound of Soldier on drill was promising compared to the state they were in now. His Turks were covered from head to foot in blood, drying blood, debris dirt and… He heard the phone connect.

"Tseng?" The Turk sounded relieved.

"No Rufus." Rufus smirked even from where he was he could almost feel the other man's nerves.

"Yes sir?" Came the almost stuttered response.

"Get us out of here. Me, my Turks and Vincent Valentine." He told him. "Now would be VERY good."

"President we need you to be out on the street where we can get a hold fix on you." The Turk told him. "It's weak where you are. How many Turks have you got with you?"

"The usual four." He looked at them and sighed before covering the mouthpiece. "We have to move outside."

"Okay." Rude lifted the redhead over his shoulder. "If Sephiroth gets in the way I am going to die fighting him."

"You won't be going down alone." Rufus nodded and keeping the phone in his hand and the Turks connected as they proceeded down the hall.

The corridor led them to the now silent lift and they headed down the metal stairs. Tseng hid the shudder well as they passed the large sword mark through the doors where it could have been his head. Rude carried Reno to the front door and pushed on it and was even more annoyed to find that it did not open. They had come in that damned way they would be going out that way so he raised his foot ready to kick it.

"There is an exit down there." Elena said interrupting and pointed to the map in reception. "Let's try that instead."

Rufus followed them as he kept the Turks online; having waited far more than long enough he had no intention of giving up the communication now. They moved to the fire exit and Tseng pushed on the door leaving a nice bloody smear on the white wood and it finally opened.

They came to the open air and it was raining. The roadside they walked out into had a large fissure in the middle of the road; smoke poured out of it, a tree had fallen in to the ground and was burning into a white ash.

"Okay we can get a lock on you, three Turks and Vincent." The voice on the phone informed him.

Rufus looked at them. There were definitely four… Reno was alive. He had to damned well be. His hand touched the body and he waited. Then suddenly the confirmation came at the same time Vincent and Tseng spotted the approaching figure from the other side of the street.

"Shit!" Tseng drew his sword, he was already weak and Vincent wanted to push the Turk aside to protect him but knew Tseng was too proud for such a thing. "How long?"

Rufus heard a fizzing noise behind them and looked as a strange swirling mist started to form. The contact on the other side told him that as soon as they could see the Sector 7 slums they needed to jump through. Rufus barked out his orders to the others. The one-winged Angel was running towards them and Tseng was praying.

"Now." Rude said as the slums came to view and he jumped through taking Rufus' hand and pulling him through as Elena followed.

Tseng and Vincent ran through following as the replica took a flying leap to try and catch one of them. Tseng was pushed through by Vincent who let fire several shots from Cerberus before disappearing after them. He appeared the other side and shot through the closing hole determined to keep the worlds separate.

"Close it now." Rufus said trying to calm down. He let out a final sigh when the strange swirling portal finally disappeared and turned hearing a thud to see Tseng go down.


	31. Chapter 31

Tseng and Reno were taken straight up out of the Midgar Slums and airlifted back to the Edge City Hospital. Rufus was taken home by the other two Turks to clean up and Vincent slipped his number to Elena with a smile. She looked at him a little surprised before pocketing it and running to catch up with her President and Rude.

"Will they be okay?" Elena asked feeling disgusted with the mess they were all in.

"Yes." Rufus said not daring to think of another answer.

Rufus ShinRa stepped in to the hot shower in the penthouse and slid against the tiled wall. The adrenaline gone he knew he was shaking. His two best Turks were laid out and they had barely come through it and what the hell was that place? When he stepped out and felt like a human being again he put on a fresh suit and dismissed the two waiting Turks. Rude headed home to change and get to the hospital and Elena did the same but wrote Vincent's number in to her phone book with a smile.

When Tseng woke up the President was sat in the chair watching him and had a book he was reading which he seemed quite engrossed in. It was that or staring at Tseng until he woke up which Rufus thought might seem a little off putting to the head Turk. Tseng wondered if he was destined to spend most of his life in hospitals or Healing Lodge due to Sephiroth or his relatives.

"I can see you are awake." Rufus said peering over his book. "So stop being polite. How are you?"

"Shit." He answered honestly but sat up anyway. "Sorry to scare you Sir."

"Tseng…" Rufus sighed. "I was scared I would loose my Turk and best friend." He said softly. "I hope you feel better soon."

"Thank you Rufus." Tseng nodded. "So are you reading more shitty romance borrowed from Reno?"

"Oh no this is," he turned and checked the title, "something about organised crime."

"Sounds pleasant." Tseng chuckled and winced in pain. "How is my second in command?"

"I think he's in surgery right now." Rufus nodded. "They wanted to try and sew up the cuts and a few things."

"I see." Tseng nodded. "Rude better look after him then."

"I'm sure he will." Rufus stood up. "I'm going to check on any news. Would you like me to bring you anything?"

"A good stiff whisky?"

"Nice try." Rufus laughed and headed out to see Elena. She followed him silently behind and Rufus could see she was concerned and holding it in. He turned to her and pulled her in to a hug. "Thank you Elena."

"Just doing our job Sir." She smiled but hugged him back. "They said Tseng can go home tomorrow and no work for a couple of weeks okay?"

"He's staying in bed if I have to strap him down myself." Rufus nodded as they headed towards the ward reception.

"He'd probably like that." She joked and watched as Rude stood outside Reno's door. He nodded to Rufus as they approached. "How is Reno?"

"Talking so fine." Rude said a hint of a smirk.

"Why don't they take his voice box?" Rufus quipped and opened the door. "Hey Reno. We're out and home. Feels good right?"

"Yo boss." He sat up and nodded. "Did you find out any more about it?"

"Actually yes." He nodded and pulled out his palm top. "Have a read when you are ready. The eggheads as you put it said that the portal to the other world was opened up by some disruption in our atmosphere. It was probably a fall out from all the fighting over the last ten years. All the death and destruction brought about by it has just prompted unease and that town appears to be the epitome of despair."

"Pleasant." Reno nodded listening to his boss. "So it's done with now right? I mean no more scrambling about in blood or… reliving old nightmares?"

"I would hope so." The President nodded and stood back up. He heard a noise outside and looked back to see Reno's little boy pulling Rude's jacket and harassing him. "I think there is someone here that wants to see you."

"Oh great…" Reno imagined a sexy nurse this time, not one of those faceless monsters.

"Daddy Leno!" Izhi ran through the door.

"Damn it." Reno muttered but smiled anyway.

"Guess things are back to normal." Rufus nodded as the toddler clambered up over him. "Hello young man."

"Hi. Did you kill stuff? Did I get any presents?" The toddler grinned.

Things were back to normal as they could.


End file.
